November 16, 1922 – January 1, 2023
Edith “Dee” Nelson, longtime Stockton resident and fulltime inspiration to family and friends, died peacefully in her home on Jan. 1, 2023, at the age of 100. Dee was a cartographer during World War II – she drew maps for naval pilots – and was the beloved wife of Gaylord “Ace” Nelson, longtime superintendent of San Joaquin County schools. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, homemaker, gardening enthusiast, travel buff, domino whiz and fine example of a life well lived.
Dee was born Edith Elizabeth Payne on Nov. 16, 1922, in Regina, Canada, to Albert “Bert” Payne and Ellen “Nellie” Lenson Payne, who were both born and raised in England. Her brother, Art, was 2 when Dee was born. The family moved to Oakland, California, in 1923 to look for work and live closer to Nellie’s parents and sisters who had settled in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dee grew up during the Great Depression, but she had fond memories of those tough times. Like so many parents, Nellie and Bert struggled to keep food on the table, but they got by with perseverance, resourcefulness and a little help from their friends. The lesson was not lost on Dee.
“I learned that life is what you make it,” Dee once recalled. “At the time, my parents never let on how hard things were. All our friends and neighbors were in the same boat, so we never felt poor. I had a happy childhood.”
Dee was a beautiful singer with the Brookside Baptist Choir, a promising art student at Fremont High School in Oakland and a good friend to many, including a kid named Ace Nelson, who palled around with Art. “Ace and I never really dated in those early years,” Dee used to say. “He was just always around the house.”
Dee and Ace became a couple after high school while Ace pursued advanced degrees in education at the University of California at Berkeley and Dee took classes there in mechanical drawing. Then World War II intervened. Ace was drafted into the Army Air Corps in spring of 1942 and was eventually sent to Guam, the Philippines and the South Pacific.
Meanwhile, Dee decided to wear stars and stripes of her own. She was working as a draftsman for a company in Oakland that designed ships in 1942 when she and a colleague said, “Wouldn’t it be fun to draw maps for the Navy?” A few weeks later, they were sworn in as Waves. Dee was stationed at the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office in Bethesda, Maryland, where she did map work for wartime pilots. And because she had perfect pitch, she landed a coveted spot in the Waves Singing Platoon.
“We had the time of our lives,” Dee often said. “We performed all over the country in amazing theaters singing songs like ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ on stages that would rise up and move right into the audience.”
After the war ended in 1945, Dee and Ace found their way back to each other. They married in August 1947. They had three children – Nancy, Gary and Diane – and landed in Stockton in 1957 when Ace was hired as a consultant for the San Joaquin County Office of Education.
Dee continued to work, now as a wife and mother. She used her mechanical drawing skills to help the kids with school projects. In the early years, she sewed almost everything the children wore. She nursed her family and various pets as they recovered from illness, cuts and broken bones. She provided charitable work for both Omega Nu and the March of Dimes.
Ace became superintendent of the county schools in 1963. With Dee’s support and partnership, Ace was reelected every four years until his death in 1990.
Dee never left Stockton. After her husband’s sudden death, she found a way to rebuild a full life. She traveled with friends. She played golf. She volunteered at Stockton’s Haggin Museum. She visited her children and grandchildren as they pursued schooling, work and love in communities throughout the state, nation and world. She hosted reunions when they all gathered at the family home.
Even at 100 years old, Dee still walked around the neighborhood where she had lived for 62 years, inspiring people 30 years younger to do the same. Like everyone, she had aches, pains and disappointments, but her remedy was to say a prayer, eat right, keep her mind active and exercise.
“You got to keep moving, and keep a positive attitude,” Dee often advised. “As Ace always said, ‘The joy is in the journey.’”
Dee is survived by her children, Nancy Pratt and her husband Doug Pratt; son Gary Nelson and his wife Gretchen Seelinger; daughter Diane Nelson and her husband Steve Elliott; grandchildren Erik Pratt and his wife Anna Pratt, Gina Garland and her husband Ben Wilde, Frankie Garland and his wife Jessica Pelliciotta, David Pratt and his fiancé Brittany Reavis, Karl Nelson, Lea Pratt, Nick Nelson and his wife Taylor Bradley; great grandchildren, Sofia Wilde, Lucas Wilde, Frankie Pelliciotta Garland and Josephine Pratt; step great granddaughter Adelyn Reavis.
Besides her husband, parents, brother and many friends, Dee was preceded in death by her great granddaughter Ellie Rose Pratt.
SERVICES:
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Cherokee Memorial Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes memorial contributions to the Hospice Foundation of America.