Mary NELSON

MARY NELSON GUILMETTE 1925-2005 Age 80, of Saint Joseph, Missouri, died Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at her daughters home in Flower Mound, Texas. Born March 4, 1925 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Mary was delivered by her grandfather, Dr. Thompson E. Potter. She grew up on a wheat farm in the panhandle of Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Radio Broadcasting. She chose a career in education teaching at the elementary level in Austin and Pampa, Texas, Japan, and Los Angeles over aspan of forty years. On March 20, 1953, she married Collin Scarborough Guilmette, a history professor, who preceded her in death. They met while teaching on an Army base in Sendai, Japan and later settled in southern California until 1991 when they retired to the Nelson-Pettis Farmstead in St. Joseph, Missouri. Due to Mary and Collins efforts the family farm was preserved and placed on the National Historic Register, the first farm district to achieve this status in the state of Missouri. It has been in the family since 1847. Mrs. Guilmette is also preceded in death by her parents, Harry A. and Catherine (Potter) Nelson; two brothers, Harry Alfred, Jr. and John Henry Nelson; and her sister, Virginia Nelson Harvey. Survived by two daughters, Cathy McAdams, Flower Mound, Texas, Julie Guilmette, Toluca Lake, California; five grandchildren, Collin, Mary, Emily and John McAdams and Maggie Davis; and one great-grandchild, Michaela McAdams. Services will be held 2:00 P.M. Friday, First Lutheran Church. Interment Nelson Family Cemetery. The Family will receive friends 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. Thursday at Meierhoffer Funeral Home, 5005 Frederick Boulevard, St. Joseph, Missouri 64506, 816-232-3366, where friends may call after Noon on Thursday. Mrs.Guilmette will be removed from Meierhoffer Funeral Home & Crematory to arrive at the church one hour prior to the service. The Family suggests memorial gifts to the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, 341 West 48th Street, 10th Floor, New York, New York 10018, or the Collin Guilmette Memorial History Scholarship Fund, Glendale Community College, Attn:Scholarship Office, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, California 91208. Published in the Los Angeles Daily News on 3/11/2005.