Janet Horsley Nelson

Jan often said that hers had been a golden childhood, growing up in a good family in what she called the pretty, little place of Brigham City. She loved her talented younger sister, Gerrie, and adored her two older brothers, Jack, and Paul. She recalled that it was her sheer pleasure to be a little sister to her big brothers, to follow them around, shag their tennis balls and run their errands. In those early years she managed to become a fair softball player and a champion shot at marbles. When she was very small, she thought she would grow up to be a boy and requested that her friends call her Howard. She was allowed to wear hand-me-down overalls with the cuffs turned up and remembers asking for a pocketknife for Christmas so that she could tuck it into the top of her boot.

In 1941, her father left with his unit of the U.S. National Guard for active military service. Jan enjoyed the rich experience of living in both Oregon and California for the duration of World War II. The family then established residence in Salt Lake City, where she attended the University of Utah, graduating magna cum laude. She loved being a coed at the U of U. Her diligence as a student was rewarded by a BA in English and Latin, a secondary teacher’s certificate, and a Phi Beta Kappa key. She was also an active participant in various service organizations and served as president of her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma.

During the summers of 1948/49, she worked as a waitress at the Grand Canyon Lodge dining room, where she met her future husband, Norman D. Nelson, who was known to everyone but his family as Hope Nelson. They married April 20, 1950. Their marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple on the tenth anniversary of their civil marriage. Jan taught English at West High School for a short period of time before starting their family consisting of five children. She loved the often-daunting challenges and small triumphs of the busy years of motherhood, along with the happiness of active membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As her children grew and started their own families, Sunday dinners around Jan and Norm’s dining room table were a treasured part of each week. Pot roast and hot rolls were a specialty that over time have become the favorite family comfort food. Jan loved to have fun. Her sense of adventure and confident physicality did not wane significantly as she aged. Climbing to the top of Angel’s Landing or launching out over a deep ravine on a rope swing, were fun memories occurring during her “white hair” years. She loved to play golf and tennis and did so well into her 80’s. A good book or the daily crossword puzzle accompanied her wherever she went in case she had some extra minutes here or there. Jan’s adventurous personality was beautifully balanced by a quiet, kind, always cheerful nature that became her trademark demeanor.

An important facet of Janet Nelson’s life was as a volunteer in the community. She was active, with her husband, as a member of NAMI, Utah, a support group for families who have a loved one with a mental illness. Their eldest son, Eric battled schizophrenia beginning early on in his life. In response, they and two other concerned couples, saw a need a for a program to help people with mental illness achieve their potential. After some research, Jan and a friend traveled to New York to train at Fountain House where the clubhouse model of community mental health originated. It was through this training and a lot of hard work that in 1987, Jan and Norm became founding members of Alliance House, Inc. in Salt Lake City. Jan was the first president of the Alliance House board of directors. She and Norm tirelessly supported this endeavor physically and financially for the next 30 years. They received numerous awards throughout their lifetime for their work in the mental health community.

Jan is survived by four of her five children, Christina Nelson McLaren (Kent), Hope Nelson Lovill (James), Sara Nelson Bradshaw and J. Dana Nelson (Alayna). She is the proud grandmother of Callie, Courtney, Sky, Parker, Kendall, Quinn, Logan, Hadley, and Campbell, also the loving great-grandmother of Miles, Micah, Holland, and Cannon, as well as her niece, Lynn Taylor. Jan was preceded in death by her parents, siblings, husband, Norm and son, Eric.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, April 11 in the LDS Chapel at 4176 South Adonis Drive (3950 East). Friends and family are invited to visit with the family at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary Sunday evening, April 10, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. or prior to the funeral service from 10:00-10:40 a.m. at the LDS Chapel on Adonis Drive.

Following the service, the burial and grave dedication will be at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park 3401 S. Highland Drive.

In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to contribute to Alliance House, Inc. Donations may be made through their website at alliance.org.