Ina Nelson

Ina Shepherd Nelson died peacefully at home in St. George, Utah on March 19, 2016.  She was 90 years old.

Ina Shepherd was born January 27, 1926 in Paris, Bear Lake County, Idaho, the youngest daughter of Frederick Leslie Shepherd and Hazel Rich.

She attended elementary school in Paris, Idaho.  At age ten the family moved from Bear Lake to Logan, Utah, where she lived and graduated from high school in 1944.  She attended Utah State Agricultural College (USU) where she majored in Social Work.  She was a member of the Kappa Delta Sorority and served as the business manager of the yearbook.

She met Kay LeRoi Nelson in April of 1947 when he applied for the job of business manager of the yearbook, walked her home and asked for a date.  He got the job.  They were engaged in June and married in the Salt Lake Temple, September 4, 1947.  They graduated together in May 1948.  Ina moved with her husband to Lafayette, Indiana where he attended graduate school at Purdue and she worked in the district office of General Telephone and served as MIA president in the North Indiana District for several years.  She gave birth to a daughter, Marlene, and a year later, a son, Alan.  Both lived only a few hours.

She moved with her husband to Westwood, California in 1952, where he did Postdoctoral research at UCLA.  She spent the summer of 1953 in Logan with her mother, while she awaited birth of her son Ronald. Five weeks later she and Ronald travelled by train to join her husband in Lafayette, Indiana where he had started to teach at Purdue University.  He was hired at Wayne State in Detroit in the fall of 1954, where they purchased their first home in Berkeley, Michigan.  She sold Avon for several years.

In January 1956 they moved to Provo, Utah as her husband joined the faculty at Brigham Young University to teach organic chemistry.  She helped her brothers, Fred and Charles as they opened their Kiddieville stores in Provo and Orem.  Three other children, Harold, Karalee and David, were born in Provo.

Ina served as PTA President at Wasatch Elementary School.  She was one of the first officers of the newly formed Catalyst Club for wives associated with the Chemistry Department.  She was also a member of Thursday Club and Daughters of Utah Pioneers.

In 1957, they built a home in Oak Hills in Provo, Utah where they lived for 34 years.  They purchased land in Provo Canyon near Sundance in 1966 and built a cabin in 1969 and later a house in 1990.

Ina also lived in Corvallis, Oregon and College Station, Texas while her husband spent Sabbatical Leaves from BYU.  She and her family traveled to all 50 states, Mexico and Canada.  She and her husband enjoyed special trips with family to Israel, Europe, the Caribbean, and Alaska.

She and her husband were instrumental in getting special education established in Provo.  They helped develop and manage Deseret Village where their son Harold lived for 25 years.

After her husband retired they built a home in Provo Canyon near their cabin.  She enjoyed spending winters in St. George.

She was a member of the LDS church and served in the Primary and Relief Society in addition to the MIA (YW) and was a dedicated Visiting Teacher.

She inherited her natural instincts for compassionate service from her mother.  She was a good friend and neighbor.

Ina is survived by her husband, LeRoi, a daughter, Karalee Metcalf, a son, David, ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.  She was preceded in death by her parents, all of her siblings and four children, Marlene, Alan, Ronald and Harold.

Family visitation will be from 7:00 to 8:00 PM on Friday, March 25, 2016 and from 11:00 to 12:00 noon on Saturday, March 26, 2016 prior to the funeral at 12:30 at the Morningside Chapel, 879 S. River Road, St. George, Utah.  Interment will be in the Logan City Cemetery at 12:00 noon on Monday, March 28, 2016.