Eloise V. Nelson
1933 — 2024
It is a privilege to know people who excel in every way. They enrich not only their own lives but also the lives of those fortunate enough to have been touched by their presence. Eloise Nelson was a multidimensional exemplar of this quality, a gentle inspiration to live good and useful lives that matter and, just as importantly, embody kindness, graciousness, creativity, integrity, hospitality, love of family and friends, and generous faith.
Eloise’s entry into the world on Good Friday in Princeton, Minnesota — one of three children born to Ivan and Elvera Anderson — meant that she was raised and nurtured during the turbulent years of the Great Depression and WWII. Hers was a loving and devout Swedish-American Baptist home, and with her father’s pastoral vocation Eloise was already gaining experience in her lifelong passions for travel and homemaking. The family moved successively to Providence (Rhode Island), Manistee and Ludington (Michigan), St. Paul and Chicago. Raised in an environment of words and books, it was natural for Eloise to earn her B.A. in English and Journalism at Bethel College. Providentially, this young Baptist woman found her first career position in Chicago at Covenant Offices, as an editorial assistant on the Covenant Companion publication under the skilled, wise mentorship of Carl Philip Anderson. And who should be working in the shipping department but a young Covenant seminary student from Lund, Wisconsin, LeRoy Nelson. They were married in 1957 and proceeded to put down deep roots in the North Park neighborhood, raising three daughters — Sonja, Sandy and Stephanie. This placed Eloise at the nexus of so much in Covenant life for over 60 years, as well as within the Swedish-American community. She made the most of it.
Eloise was a member of North Park Covenant Church for more than a half-century. As a young mother she formed lasting friendships with other moms, at first meeting weekly for Bible study, then continuing for another 60 years of regular get-togethers. Eloise was active in many areas, working in the church office, being the first woman to chair the board of trustees, and taking a leadership role with Covenant Women and the popular annual fall Alley Walk fundraiser. She helped plan church anniversaries and special programs, always with her signature touches of themed place-settings, artful centerpieces, and elegant printed programs. Eloise also sang in the choir for decades.
As Eloise returned to her vocation of writing, editing and design, she was near rewarding opportunities in the Covenant orbit close to home. She became director of publications at North Park College and Theological Seminary, responsible for writing and editing campus publications, as well as the quarterly magazine, The North Parker. Eloise rightfully took pride in her work, with careful attention to detail and creative visual design, a prominent “public face” of quality to alumni and the larger community. Included in the extensive budgetary and personnel cuts of 1987 (a profound disappointment), Eloise was soon appointed director of communications at Covenant Ministries of Benevolence. Working there until retirement, Eloise’s publishing hand is seen, for example, in coordinating and editing “A Giving Spirit: The Story of Paul W. Brandel” (1990) and “Aging in Grace: The Growth of Covenant Retirement Communities, 1886-2011” (2011). She was also active in the Service Guild at Swedish Covenant Hospital. As a member of the ECC’s Women’s History Commission, Eloise was instrumental in the printed five-volume project, “Women to Remember.”
My personal ties to Eloise extend back to 1979, when I came to teach at North Park and our family became involved at NPCC. Most extensive, however, was our closely shared work in the Swedish-American Historical Society, a national organization based at North Park since the 1950s, where I had become involved as a board member in the early 1980s, then president from 1989-2023. Serving several three-year terms as a society board member, Eloise was the first woman chair (1998-2001) and skillfully led the program committee for many years, designing publicity, including a new cover for our journal and masthead, and providing beautiful décor for public symposia and dinners. In 1980, she and LeRoy began leading society tours around the United States and launched in 1990 a hugely successful Holiday Lights Tour to Sweden during the Advent season, offered for many years. Eloise and LeRoy each were recipients in 2008 of the society’s highest honor, the Carl Sandburg Award. In their travels, they visited all 50 states and led 19 tours to Scandinavia.
Eloise and LeRoy were the consummate hosts. Living in the historic Axel Mellander home a block from campus until 2008 (then moving to Covenant Living of Northbrook and membership at Winnetka Covenant), their casual bed-and-breakfast, along with myriad invitations to their home, extended warm hospitality to old and new friends, whether from the neighborhood or from around the country and Sweden. Together with family at Spread Eagle in the summer or family reunions in Door County, each occasion was made uniquely special and memorable for everyone. Living a long and fruitful life, Eloise elegantly personified, like the title of her book, “aging in grace.” Abiding peace to her memory and comfort to her family.
Tack för allt!