Obituary of Ottilie Vivian Nelson

Mom was the fifth of six children born to Fredrick C. and Bernice Wolf in Tacoma Washington. They were a large and very happy family surviving the Depression years and not knowing they were poor. The children all went to Washington Elementary, Mason Junior High and Stadium High School. Mom was a dropout in her junior year to marry my father, much to the chagrin of her father. Married for 42 years Dad (Robert M. Nelson) and Mom only had one child – me! We had a wonderful family life with lots of togetherness, camping, trailering, visiting with relatives and I was lucky to have a couple of creative parents. Mom was a great cook, a seamstress, had a beautiful flower garden and was very crafty, Dad was a woodworker making all of our furniture when I was a child – we had the first entertainment center way back in the 50’s and I had a homemade swing-set in the backyard. Best on the block! Mom started working part-time when I was in Junior High School at Rhodes Brothers Department Store in downtown Tacoma, she quickly went from clerk to buyer and moved to Lakewood when the Villa Plaza store opened. She loved this job and only quit after my Dad retired and they traveled all over the country and to Europe and Australia. I got married in 1965 and the grandkids came soon after, Tate Arthur, Tina Marie, and Daniel Gus who became the light of my Mother’s eyes. Treasured memories of the times we all spent together and were blessed with her teachings and nurturing love. After 42 years of marriage the folks got divorced, a big surprise. Mom moved to Sumner and opened a flower and gift shop in the Alder Mall. This was another job that she loved and her creativity made her very successful. In her retirement years she was kept busy with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We are blessed to have eleven members of the next generation following along as Tate and Kim have four, three girls and one boy, Tina and Mike have two girls, and Gus has three girls and we always include Sarah and her 2 girls. Yep – that’s right – 10 girls and 1 boy! God has blessed us and what a party when we are all together. Predeceased by her parents, brothers Fred, Dick and Jim and just last November by her baby-sister Jane Dockeray. Her only surviving sibling is Marion Rothweiler who got a good laugh out of Mom during her final days with a reference to goulashes. We will love and miss her greatly she will be in our hearts forever. Christine (Tina) Laramore