She is preceded in death by her parents Winton E. Yerby and Vesta Jones Yerby, brother Winton E. Yerby, Jr, brother Don E. Yerby, sister Anne Luvenia Yerby and sister Ramona Yerby Reece. She is survived by 12 nieces and nephews, Wesley Reece (Arizona), Deborah Reece Blesser Blanpied (South Carolina), Michael Reece (Alabama), Henry Reece (Alabama), Donald “Dee” E. Yerby Chubb (Michigan), Stanley C. Yerby Chubb (Michigan), Forrest Yerby (Alabama), Maria McBrier (Georgia), Susan McDaniel (Florida), Winton Yerby III (Alabama), Joan Yerby (Florida), Brian Yerby (Hawaii), their spouses and a multitude of grand and great nieces and nephews and their families.
Nelle was known for her lifelong deep faith and was referred to by her family and friends, as an “Ambassador for Christ”. She studied her Bible and prayed daily for others. At a young age, she was baptized at Hunter Street Baptist Church, in the West End of Birmingham. Later, she became a member of First Baptist Church, Birmingham where she taught Sunday School to first grade children. Nelle was deeply devoted to her final church, Berney Points Baptist, where, like her preceding churches, she also taught Sunday School and sang in the choir. She had a special place in her heart for her pastor Anton Fourie, his wife Elizabeth and their son Alex, as well as her Spiritual Daughter, Linda Newsom.
Before the advent of computers, Nelle was often acknowledged as “the best commercial illustrator in the Southeast, maybe, even the nation”. She referred to herself as “one of the South’s most dependable illustrators”.
When her father, a pharmacist, lost his drug store in the Depression, he was determined that his children would not lose their pet, Georgie Boy, the horse. Her family returned to Birmingham, and lived in a series of rental homes, always finding room for Georgie Boy. Their horse was even stabled, briefly, in a garage behind their home on the Southside of Birmingham. Nelle had many adventures, from age 6 until her 20s, with Georgie Boy. Once, blinded by an oncoming car, both horse and girl fell over the side of a bridge. Horse and girl survived, but Nelle did have to spend the night at Saint Vincent’s Hospital, with the nuns, where her arm, broken for the second time, was set.
Nelle had a lifelong love of animals. She was always happy to host family pets when there was a need. Some of her famous pets were Pantalettes (Fluff Bottom) the cat, Fritz the cat, Jake the dog, Tinker the dog (frequent visitor), Milo the cat (frequent visitor), Gabby the cat, Black Cat (Smokie) the cat, Cossitt the cat and Kit Blue the cat. All those pets originated in other homes with the exception of Pantalettes (Fluff Bottom), her first cat and Kit Blue, her last cat, both of which she named.
Nelle and her younger sister “Mona” enjoyed their Birmingham childhood and their time on their farm in Thorsby. One of their homes was on the end of the trolley line, in Homewood. When they arrived at their stop, the sisters enjoyed helping the trolley driver flip the wooden seat backs the other way.
Nelle had a lifelong fascination with cars and drove, like a race car driver, into her 90s, never causing a wreck. At age 13, before driver’s licenses, she drove herself to Shades Cahaba School, in Homewood. Her final automobile, which she owned at her death was her beloved “Little Truckie”, an antique Ford Ranger.
After purchasing perhaps the first Volkswagen Beetle in Birmingham on the day the dealership opened, she spent decades “rambling”, in her signature white hat, with her mother, sisters, nieces and nephews. She “rambled” in “Little Blue” and her other VW Bugs, in the “hinterlands” of her beloved Alabama, the Southeast, and, occasionally, on cross country trips.
Nelle loved America. She participated in helping the World War II effort in both Washington, DC and in New York City. Always very patriotic, she took her right to vote seriously. In the last presidential election, she was 93 and had recently rehabbed from a fall that put her in a wheelchair. When she was asked if she wanted to vote by absentee ballot, she took umbrage at the idea. She was adamant that she went in person to vote just like she had done in every election.
Nelle attempted art school in New York City and Atlanta, but quickly said “Phooey on that Junk”! She was a self taught artist who developed a unique technique, with an airbrush, to accomplish her very exact and detailed mechanical illustrations. She was pursued to teach her technique on a college level, but declined because she felt she was not a teacher.
In the 1950s, at her illustrating job at Hayes Aircraft, her male coworkers were upset that she was paid less than them. Even though she cared for a widowed mother and disabled sister, she said she did not mind being paid less because the men had families to support. Her male co-workers insisted the company raise her salary declaring “She is the most talented illustrator at this company”; however, the company refused. As a result, her co-workers encouraged her to become a freelance artist telling her “you will never be without work”. With their encouragement, she launched a very successful career as an illustrator. Many large corporations, across the Southeast, were her clients. Nelle was considered the best illustrator and her clients had no problem paying for the best.
When her sister, Anne “Sis” Luvenia, became disabled, Nelle prayed for her to be healed, then she prayed that she would have the strength to always be able to care for her. Finally, she prayed if she was not able to care for her sister, herself, for God to please take her Home, and that her sister would never have to live in an institution. Her sister was taken Home to Heaven, the next day. Nelle took care of “Sis” until her death at age 39.
When her mother became disabled, Nelle said that Vesta was “bedridden but not homebound”. She bought a van, with a wheelchair lift, that she named “Big Boomer”. She took her mother, on many road trips. Their favourite destination was Nelle’s second home, Burnsville, NC. They would often head out, on moonlit nights, to the Nu Wray Inn and later to several different mountain cottages, in Burnsville, that she leased for a year or more.
The house that Nelle lived in the longest (for 45 years) was a treehouse she designed, and built, with her brother, W.E. “Sonny”, which hung on the side of Shades Mountain. She chose Bluff Park because that is where she and her sisters would sing on the bluffs at family picnics. Her father would arrive home from work announcing they should go on a picnic and her mother would grab the pots off of the stove. Nelle designed her treehouse to accommodate her wheelchair bound mother. She named it the Vesta View Inn but everyone else called it Aunt Nelle’s Treehouse.
She did many projects at her treehouse, for instance, rebuilding her entire front deck/ bridge, by herself, when she was in her 70s. Her family has not figured out how she completed a project, by herself in her 70s, that was under her house, at the top of a steep rock wall and involved large building materials. She stopped going up on her roof, in her 80s, because it upset her sister so much.
In her treehouse, even into her last years, she created art in her studio, played with power saws and hosted slumber parties with the kids. Her last slumber party with three of her great nieces was just weeks before she died. Even in her last years, she never charged rent and offered housing and Christian hospitality to college kids and others, as well as cats and dogs needing a safe place to stay. Not only was she known as “Aunt Nelle” to her family but to others as well.
Although, in her later years, she refused to fly on a commercial plane, (even though she had piloted a plane, by herself), she never tired of road trips. She loved exploring Alabama, searching for off the beaten path diners, with her sister “Mona”. In her 70s, she took a “ramble” in an open Jeep to North Carolina, with a nephew. When she was almost 90, she took a cross country road trip to San Diego, to visit a niece.
“Aunt Nelle” also known as “Aunt Ruby” was very devoted to her nieces and nephews (her “extended biological family”) and would pray for them daily. She would always drop everything to help them with child care, attend school functions or assist them with projects. She also passed down her passion for Alabama Football but made sure to point out that she rooted for Auburn as long as they were not playing Alabama. The kids in the family loved “Aunt Nelle” and spending time with her in her treehouse. One 11 year old, great niece, preferred spending her Fall Break with her 93 year old Aunt Nelle, in her treehouse, over going to the beach.
Aunt Nelle was determined to live until she was 100. She lived in her treehouse and walked up a steep flight a stairs, daily, until she went into the hospital a few weeks before she died. The day of her death, she was still planning to return to her treehouse, to her squirrels and her beloved cat Kit Blue, a feral kitten that she nursed back to health after a fireman plucked her from the yellow line, in the middle of five lanes of traffic, in front of Elmwood Cemetery.
Nelle loved this life. She planned to go on more adventures, planned to do more projects and planned to create more art. However, as much as Nelle is missed by friends and family of all ages, from children to the elderly (“Aunt Nelle” even received sorrowful condolences from Thailand) and as much as she wanted to go home to her treehouse, she missed her parents and siblings terribly, especially, her sisters. We take comfort that she is finally Home with her Lord Jesus Christ and continuing her adventures with her brothers and sisters and that we, too, will join in the adventures when we get there.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation to Nelle Yerby’s church:
Berney Points Baptist Church
2250 Blue Ridge Blvd
Hoover, AL, 35226
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.johnsridoutselmwood for the Yerby family.
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