Adelaide Nelson

Adelaide Nelson, age 98, of Bismarck, North Dakota passed away April 10, 2007 at Grandview Christian Home in Cambridge. No public services will be held.

Adelaide Nelson was born April 30, 1908 at Morris, Minnesota to Mark and Jeanette Forkner. She was raised in Langdon, North Dakota, graduating from Langdon High School in 1926. Adelaide then attended the University of North Dakota and was a member of the Pi Chapter of the Alpha Chi Omega Sorority. She graduated in 1930 and continued her education at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, graduating in 1934.

She worked as a Registered Nurse in the Visiting Nurses Association Program in Washington D.C. Adelaide married John Norwood Hamilton. In 1948 she moved to Bismarck with her two children and in 1950 she married Carl Phillip Nelson. Phil passed away in 1995.

Adelaide worked at Provident Life Insurance Co, and then taught at Bismarck Hospital School of Nursing until 1956. She was employed with the Custer District Health Unit from 1956 until 1966 as a Public Health Nurse. In 1966 she worked for the State Health Department as Assistant Director of Nursing and in 1972 she retired.

Adelaide was a lifelong active member of McCabe Methodist Church, where she still did handiwork for the workshop. She also was involved in P.E.O., Medcenter One Auxillary, Shrine Auxillary and she volunteered at Medcenter One Gift Shop for over 20 years. Adelaide was a Life Masters Bridge player, a talented cook and seamstress, and she loved to entertain, knit, play cards and work crosswords.

Adelaide is survived by one daughter, Deborah (Ron) Buerkle of Pine City, MN; two grandchildren, Jeff (Terri) Buerkle of Wyoming, MN, and Liz (Brian) Bottomley of Rush City, MN; four great-grandchildren, Kristi, Mark, Jamie and Jesse; one sister, Alice, of Orlando, FL; and by three nephews, one niece, and other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Mark and Jeanette Forkner, by a son, John, and by a brother, Dick.