NIELSEN, THELLA WILLIAMS, December 8, 1917 – February 21, 2006

POCATELLO – Our loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother, Thella Williams Nielsen, 88, slipped away peacefully on February 21, 2006 to join her husband, her sweetheart of 68 years. Ludvig Jessco Nielsen, who had died a short two months before.

Thella was born December 8, 1917 in Cherry Creek, Idaho, just south of Malad, Idaho, the daughter of Edwin and Bertha Jones Williams. The family later moved to Brigham City, Utah where she met Lud.

They graduated from Box Elder High School the same year where they began their three-year courtship, and were married September 7, 1937. On their first anniversary they were sealed in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple.

They began their married life in Brigham City, Utah, then moved to McCammon, Idaho and then on to Arimo, Idaho, finally settling in Pocatello in 1950, wher they lived in the same house on South Grant for 54 years.

Thella had many callings in the LDS Church. Her first calling was a Beehive teacher while living in McCammon in 1944, and she served faithfully throughout her life serving as a librarian, visiting teacher until 2000 and as a Primary and Relief Society president.

After her youngest child was in junior high, she returned to school to get her beautician license, after which her husband built her a salon. She also worked at J.C. Penney for a few years.

She was a devoted wife and mother, always working hard to provide a secure home for her family. She had many talents, including quilting, crocheting, playing the piano, accordion, organ, gardening and making photograph albums. She enjoyed crafts of all kinds, which she shared with so many.

Thella enjoyed visits from her family and friends. Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and family reunions were always special to her, as they brought the family together. She was the second mother to several of her children’s friends, and it wasn’t unusual to see another face at the kitchen table or wearing a shirt she had made for them just like one she had made for one of her own children.

She is survived by six children, LuDella Nielsen, Pocatello, Ronald (Jane) Nielsen, Vancouver, WA; Scott (Linda) Nielsen, Pocatello, Sue (Skip) Summers, Bountiful, Utah, Douglas (LaWana) Nielsen, Pocatello, Roger Nielsen, Pocatello, 22 grandchildren, 43 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by a sister, Alice Reeder of Glendale, CA, and Theo Storer of Idaho Falls. She was preceded in death by her husband, Lud, a daughter-in-law, Linda Liston Nielsen, her parents, her brother, Lester Williams and sisters, Lillian Goodenough and Mae Griffee.

Funeral services will be February 25, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. in the LDS stake center, 655 S. Grant Ave. The family will receive friends on Friday, Feb. 24 from 6-8 p.m. at Manning-Wheatley Funeral Chapel, 510 N. 12th Ave., and on Saturday from 10:00 – 10:45 a.m. at the church.

Interment will be in Mountain View Cemetery.