Leslie Rodda Nelson

Doris Margaret Landau Nelson

Leslie Rodda Nelson (Les), was born 1 May 1916 in Las Animas, Colorado and died 15 Nov 2005 in Albany, Missouri.

In the 1920 Census[3], he is listed living with his parents and paternal grandparents at 625 Vine St. in Las Animas. Shortly after this, the family moved to Denver.

Leslie worked in his father's grocery store, "Nelson's Red & White", on South Broadway St. in Denver from a very early age. He was driving a grocery delivery truck at age 11. When he was 16, he dropped out of South High School to work full time so he could afford a car, a decision he always regretted.

Shortly after his marriage to Doris, Leslie went back to Toledo, Ohio to learn meat cutting. He carried on that trade until his retirement in 1981, working mostly for the supermarket chains Safeway and King Soopers.

Leslie loved bowling, pitching horseshoes, playing bridge and scrabble. In his later years, he enjoyed going to the casinos that opened in Central City, Colorado.

Several years after Doris died, Leslie met and became very good friends with a widow, Madeline Harrington. He proposed marriage, but she didn't want to bury a third husband. She was a good companion for Leslie in his later years, giving him reasons to stay active and involved with life.[2]

He married Doris Margaret Landau in Denver on 20 June 1937 and the couple lived in Denver all their lives.

Doris Margaret Nelson was born 19 Nov 1916 in Torrington, Wyoming and died April 1986 in Denver, Colorado. There is some uncertainty about her birth date. The SSDI shows 16 November[4], but her birth certificate showed 19 November and that is what she put on her passport. Her father William Edgar Landau's WWI Draft registration shows Torrington as the family residence in 1917-8. So far, I have not been able to find her family in the 1920 Census. In 1930, she was living in Denver, Colorado at 332 S. Gilpin St. or 1930 Census.

Like Leslie, Doris moved with her parents to Denver at the age of 3 (1919). When she was growing up and going to school, she followed in the footsteps of her older sister Carolyn, two grades behind. But when she was 11 and Carolyn was 13, her sister died suddenly of pneumonia and she had to continue on. She graduated from South High School in 1934. She then went to Emily Griffith Opportunity School in Denver to learn typing and shorthand. For the rest of her life, she would write notes to herself in shorthand, which nobody else could read.

Doris was a good mother and a good companion to her children. She had difficulty carrying children to full term, suffering two miscarriages before Gerald was born, one between Gerald and Judith, and one after. She was a heavy cigarette smoker from her teen years and this may have contributed. It probably also shortened her life as she died unexpectedly at age 69.

She always loved art and taught herself to paint in oils and to do ceramics. She also loved to sew. Doris was a night person, staying up long after everyone else went to bed, then rising as late as she could in the morning. She used her late nights as a vehicle to indulge her artistic hobbies and to maintain her personal balance. After both children were in school, she worked part time at Tandy Leather Co.

Doris was very involved along with her daughter in the Campfire Girl Program and was a Campfire Group Leader for many years.

Children:

1. Gerald Edward Nelson (Jerry), born 5 April 1942 in Denver, Colorado[1]
2. Judith Ann Nelson (Judy), born 10 August 1946 in Denver, Colorado

Sources

1. Birth Certificate
2. Personal Recollection/family stories
3. US Census 1920 Colorado, Bent County, Pct 10 Las Animas City.
4. Social Security Death Index, 521-01-0202.