Lila Margaret (Andrew) Nelson, age 98, Town of Ellington, died at home on Feb. 21, 2019.
She was born on May 17, 1920 at her Grandparent’s Andrew’s farm in Green Garden Township, Will County, Illinois, the only child of Edward Charles Andrew and Mary Margaret (Redden) Andrew. She graduated from the Joliet Township High School at Joliet Illinois, in the class of 1938 and from the Joliet Township Junior College in 1940. Lila then taught all eight grades for three years (1940-1943) in that same Bettenhausen one room school where she had first grade and where her mother had taught. In the summer months she completed teaching education classes from DeKalb University, at that time Northern Illinois State Teacher’s College, DeKalb, managed to save enough money, and in the fall of 1943 started at the U of I at Urbana, tested out of some subjects, and earned her BS in Business Education in one year and a summer. In the fall of 1944 she began teaching the business subjects in Momence High School, Momence, Ill where she taught for 4 years. In the summer of 1945 she went to San Diego, CA and worked in the navy base on North Island to make navy phone books. WWII ended in August ‘45 and Lila returned to teach at Momence. In the summer of 1946 she began working on an MS in Business Education at UW-Madison. Lila became a Neenah High School business education teacher in 1948. She completed the MS in Business Ed at UW-Madison in 1950. Lila met Orville Nelson at a square dance at the YWCA; they were married on Sunday, February 24, 1952 in Manhattan, IL. After marriage she taught at Hortonville on the third floor of the old three story school downtown. After her children were in school Lila taught the business subjects at Xavier High School in the latter part of the 1960s , then at Hortonville High School the second time, and lastly at St Mary’s High School in Menasha from where she retired in 1983. Lila belonged to several bridge clubs over the years and enjoyed a game of bridge. After she retired from teaching she took up playing golf. She was an active member of the Never Idle Home Makers Club, Wisconsin Association for Home and Community Education, for over 50 years. Treasurer of the Ellington Union Cemetery Association for over 25 years, worked with the combined Fund of Ellington for years from its inception to its end, worked in the Hortonville School PTO, also for the Hortonville cub scouts for her sons, and Hortonville High AFS Club. Lila and Gale Bohman organized the registration for the Red Cross sponsored summer swimming lessons for many years. Lila was an active member of Faith Community UM Church where she worked at many church functions and on many committees, bible studies, and helped Orville in preparing the lessons for the adult Sunday school class which he taught for close to 40 years.
She wished for Dr. Jack Anderson to be thanked for his and his father being her doctors since 1948.
She was survived by her husband Orville for seven days until Orville died on March 1st after a stroke on February 13th, her sons James and Robert. She is survived by two nieces and two nephews on Orville’s side: Judy Abendschein (Michael Mc Neese, (Mississippi) and Shaleen Melvin (Wyoming), and Michael Avants (Wyoming), and Sean (Susan) Avants, (Wyoming). She is further survived by cousins and other relatives. She was preceded in death by her sisters-in-law and their husbands: Arlo (Nelson) (Abendshein) Sell and John Abendschein and Everett Sell, Ruth (Nelson) and Robert Avants.
Funeral services for Lila and Orville will be held on Saturday, March 9, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. at the Faith Community United Methodist Church in Greenville with Rev. Lisotwel Ayensu-Mensah and Rev. David Farina officiating. Visitation will be held at the church on Friday from 4-7 p.m. and also on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until the time of service.