1934
Martha
2024
Martha Dickert Nelson
September 21, 1934 — December 5, 2024
Martha Couch Dickert Nelson was born in Newberry, South Carolina, September 21, 1934, to Mabel Elizabeth Couch Dickert and Herman Alonzo Dickert. She and her older sister, Sally Lu Dickert Conlin, spent their childhoods in several states along the east coast of the US where their father was a textiles chemist. Growing up during World War II left an indelible mark on Martha. Although she recalled rationing of staples like sugar, her family was not lacking in basics, and instead it bred a "can do" attitude that fitted her with many skills that would prove useful throughout her life. As a child, she made clothes for her dolls, which meant that she could later design and sew beautiful outfits for herself and her daughter. She learned to play piano, and was honored to be the guest accompanist to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as a teenager during the summer season at Chastain Park. When her father was invited to teach at Georgia Tech, she grew up on the campus and would recall learning to swim in the lifesaving class with the older male Tech students. She attended Grady High School, where she was elected student body president her senior year.
She was only 16 when she met Navy ROTC Georgia Tech student Bob Nelson at a Delta Tau Delta fraternity party where she was a rush hostess. They began dating, and within 3 years, just after his graduation, he proposed to her on the top of the Empire State Building. Because Bob was about to leave on his first Navy assignment as a disbursing officer, they planned a wedding in just 1 week and were married on Halloween 1953. Martha traveled around the US from one Navy port to another, east coast and west, and in July of 1955 at the Chelsea Naval Hospital outside of Boston, Martha delivered their first child before moving back to Georgia and settling in Cartersville, where Bob was from. During the next eight years, Martha had two sons, while running Miss Martha's Nursery School in the living room of her home, and working for Bob's father in the Nelson Insurance Agency.
On Leap Year Day 1964 the family moved to Atlanta, and as Bob started a new career in the burgeoning computer industry, Martha began first as a student at John Robert Powers Finishing School, then teaching other young women in modeling. In 1965 Martha returned to Agnes Scott College to finish her undergraduate degree in music, then changed to art, later transferring to Georgia State, where she ultimately graduated with a Bachelor's in Philosophy. While going to school and raising her three children, Martha taught kindergarten at University Heights United Methodist Church, taught piano lessons at her home, and later became the church organist and choir director. Martha and Bob also were both in the Decatur Civic Chorus, where they sang for years, performing throughout the state. Martha also continued her schooling at Oglethorpe University, obtaining a Master's in the Art of Teaching, and began her student teaching as the family moved across town to Dunwoody.
In 1974 Bob accepted a position in California, and Martha and the boys moved to San Mateo. There Martha worked in the Audio Visual department of the local public library. In 1976 Bob was again promoted, and they moved to Palos Verdes just south of Los Angeles, where Martha returned to her musical roots and became an accompanist for musicians and vocalists, often working with a friend who was a voice teacher. In addition, Martha worked at a local insurance agency, but she also decided to turn one of her favorite pastimes, reading mystery novels, into a new pursuit as a budding author. Her first as yet unpublished mystery novel was based on her experience in the insurance industry, and was written under a pseudonym, May Bee Knott. After 11 years in southern California, Bob and Martha returned to Cartersville, Georgia, where they moved into and subsequently renovated the house that Bob's parents, Dick and Myrtle Nelson, had bought when Bob was a young teenager.
Back in Georgia, Martha first worked for the state of Georgia in Bartow County's PEACH program, and then after renewing her teaching certificate from Kennesaw State University, she returned to the public school system at Bartow County Middle School. Her teaching methods were somewhat unorthodox, as demonstrated by her students learning to play chess as live chess pieces on a board laid out on the floor of her classroom. She taught for 11 years before retiring.
After the deaths of their parents, Martha and Bob moved briefly to Clayton, Georgia, where their daughter had settled. Unable to resist the charm of Cartersville, Martha and Bob moved back to Cartersville where they became active members of Trinity United Methodist Church.
Martha developed dementia in the years after retirement, and became totally disabled from a series of strokes. Her final years were made comfortable by loving caregivers in her home, and she passed away in her own bedroom in the early hours of the morning on December 5, 2024. Martha will be cremated according to her wishes, and laid to rest at Oakhill Cemetery in the Nelson family plot, beside her mother and father-in-law. Martha was preceded in death by her beloved parents and elder sister, and she leaves behind her husband Bob of over 71 years, her daughter Jane, her sons Bob Jr. of Gales Ferry, Connecticut, and Bart of Belmont, Massachusetts, her eldest grandson Koby, granddaughter Cedar, grandsons Adi and Ben, and great granddaughter Nora.
Memorial services for Martha Nelson have been postponed due to inclement weather and will be announced at a later date.
She was only 16 when she met Navy ROTC Georgia Tech student Bob Nelson at a Delta Tau Delta fraternity party where she was a rush hostess. They began dating, and within 3 years, just after his graduation, he proposed to her on the top of the Empire State Building. Because Bob was about to leave on his first Navy assignment as a disbursing officer, they planned a wedding in just 1 week and were married on Halloween 1953. Martha traveled around the US from one Navy port to another, east coast and west, and in July of 1955 at the Chelsea Naval Hospital outside of Boston, Martha delivered their first child before moving back to Georgia and settling in Cartersville, where Bob was from. During the next eight years, Martha had two sons, while running Miss Martha's Nursery School in the living room of her home, and working for Bob's father in the Nelson Insurance Agency.
On Leap Year Day 1964 the family moved to Atlanta, and as Bob started a new career in the burgeoning computer industry, Martha began first as a student at John Robert Powers Finishing School, then teaching other young women in modeling. In 1965 Martha returned to Agnes Scott College to finish her undergraduate degree in music, then changed to art, later transferring to Georgia State, where she ultimately graduated with a Bachelor's in Philosophy. While going to school and raising her three children, Martha taught kindergarten at University Heights United Methodist Church, taught piano lessons at her home, and later became the church organist and choir director. Martha and Bob also were both in the Decatur Civic Chorus, where they sang for years, performing throughout the state. Martha also continued her schooling at Oglethorpe University, obtaining a Master's in the Art of Teaching, and began her student teaching as the family moved across town to Dunwoody.
In 1974 Bob accepted a position in California, and Martha and the boys moved to San Mateo. There Martha worked in the Audio Visual department of the local public library. In 1976 Bob was again promoted, and they moved to Palos Verdes just south of Los Angeles, where Martha returned to her musical roots and became an accompanist for musicians and vocalists, often working with a friend who was a voice teacher. In addition, Martha worked at a local insurance agency, but she also decided to turn one of her favorite pastimes, reading mystery novels, into a new pursuit as a budding author. Her first as yet unpublished mystery novel was based on her experience in the insurance industry, and was written under a pseudonym, May Bee Knott. After 11 years in southern California, Bob and Martha returned to Cartersville, Georgia, where they moved into and subsequently renovated the house that Bob's parents, Dick and Myrtle Nelson, had bought when Bob was a young teenager.
Back in Georgia, Martha first worked for the state of Georgia in Bartow County's PEACH program, and then after renewing her teaching certificate from Kennesaw State University, she returned to the public school system at Bartow County Middle School. Her teaching methods were somewhat unorthodox, as demonstrated by her students learning to play chess as live chess pieces on a board laid out on the floor of her classroom. She taught for 11 years before retiring.
After the deaths of their parents, Martha and Bob moved briefly to Clayton, Georgia, where their daughter had settled. Unable to resist the charm of Cartersville, Martha and Bob moved back to Cartersville where they became active members of Trinity United Methodist Church.
Martha developed dementia in the years after retirement, and became totally disabled from a series of strokes. Her final years were made comfortable by loving caregivers in her home, and she passed away in her own bedroom in the early hours of the morning on December 5, 2024. Martha will be cremated according to her wishes, and laid to rest at Oakhill Cemetery in the Nelson family plot, beside her mother and father-in-law. Martha was preceded in death by her beloved parents and elder sister, and she leaves behind her husband Bob of over 71 years, her daughter Jane, her sons Bob Jr. of Gales Ferry, Connecticut, and Bart of Belmont, Massachusetts, her eldest grandson Koby, granddaughter Cedar, grandsons Adi and Ben, and great granddaughter Nora.
Memorial services for Martha Nelson have been postponed due to inclement weather and will be announced at a later date.
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