Emily Nelson

Sandra Emily Zetterlof Nelson died in Raleigh on Saturday, March 4, 2023. She was 88. Emily was born December 3, 1934 in Hackensack, New Jersey, the only child of Hugo Emil Zetterlof, originally of Philadelphia, and Kathryn Winslett Zetterlof, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her father died in her infancy, and she was raised in Tuscaloosa by her mother and her grandmother, Ella Kathryn Wallace Winslett.

Her childhood included many happy visits to the home of her aunt and uncle, Emily Winslett Long and John Whitfield Long, in Jasper, Alabama and pleasant summers at Camp Cherry Austin in Tuscaloosa and Rockbrook in the North Carolina mountains.

She was graduated from Tuscaloosa High School in 1952 where she was a member of the LOL sorority and enjoyed a very active social life. She earned a BS in Bacteriology from the University of Alabama in 1956. While at the University she was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, the source of many lasting friendships.

After taking her degree, she married Perry Froemming Nelson on September 5, 1956, to whom she was a devoted wife until his death in 2017. After living briefly in Cortez, Colorado and Ardmore, Oklahoma, both of which she hated, in 1960 she and her family moved to Washington, North Carolina, which she loved. The family moved to Raleigh in 1971.

In 1981 she suffered and stoically bore the loss of her eldest son, Ensign Christopher Wilkes Nelson, in a scuba diving accident. She wore a Naval Academy pendant around her neck from the date of his death until her last days.

She worked from time to time as a medical technologist at Beaufort County Hospital and Wake County Medical Center, taught microbacteriology at Beaufort Community College and Wake Technical College and for a time worked on the administrative staff at St. Mary’s College. She was for many years a docent at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Emily was an avid and fearless sailor and a fiercely competitive tennis player, winning many trophies in each sport.

A woman of strong will, she was also very social and maintained a wide circle of friends from all stages of her life. She was intensely loyal to all her connections, most enduringly to her sororities, the University of Alabama and, of course, to her family and many friends.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, William and Linda Nelson of Raleigh; her granddaughters, Katherine Frances Nelson of Chicago and Eleanor Wilkes Nelson of New York; and two cousins, William Breckenridge Long of Jasper, Alabama and Stella Kathyrn Long Dunlap of Gainesville, Georgia.

A funeral service will be held at Holy Trinity Anglican Church on Tuesday, March 7th at 1:00 pm. A reception will follow the service at the church. Burial will be private.

Arrangements are under the care of Brown-Wynne Funeral Home 300 St. Mary’s Street, Raleigh, NC 27605.