Ida Marie Nelson Endowed Scholarship

Ida Marie Nelson was a person who offered herself and her gifts to others willingly. From her generous heart she was able to help the four motherless children of her brother when they most needed her. Here is her story.

Ida “Auntie Marie” Nelson was born in Sweden in 1879. After coming to the United States she trained as a registered nurse at Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis. She was committed to a career of helping others. In 1916, when her brother’s wife died shortly after giving birth to their fourth child in five years, the family was faced with a dilemma. Marie’s brother began to make arrangements to have the children brought up by different relatives.

But Aunty Marie, who had never married, refused to let that happen. Rather than see the children separated, she relinquished her formal profession and installed herself as their surrogate mother for the next two decades. Because Aunty Marie was a woman of faith, the Lutheran faith, the children grew up in an environment of discipline and love. The siblings were not only close in age; they were close to each other, and remained so throughout their adult lives.

When the Nelson children grew to adulthood, the family chose Cal Lutheran as their college, eventually establishing three endowed scholarships at the university. First was the Leo Laine Memorial Scholarship, established by Marjorie Nelson Laine, one of the four children Aunty Marie had raised. Next, the Ida Marie Nelson Endowed Scholarship was established by Harold Nelson, Marjorie’s older brother, in tribute to Auntie Marie. The final scholarship established by the family was the Knight Family Scholarship, created by Harold’s daughter Kathy. While Harold had originally intended to include the Ida Marie Nelson Endowed Scholarship in his estate, he decided to initiate it during his lifetime as way of giving thanks to Auntie Marie “for giving the four children a deep appreciation of life, family, and faith.”

Fittingly the Ida Marie Nelson Endowed Scholarship honors Marie’s chosen profession as it also honors her generosity in caring for the four children. The scholarship is designated for Christian students preparing for a career in the medical sciences by majoring in either biology or chemistry.