Obituary of Helen Hayden Nelson

Helen (Ruth) Hayden Nelson of Montclair passed into glory on 2/24/16 at the age of 89 years. Born in Plymouth, Mass. in 1926, she was a graduate of both Montclair High School and Bucknell University. Helen was involved in numerous community activities in Montclair including Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Union Congregational Church, the Women’s Club of Upper Montclair, the Nature Center, the Red Cross, the Montclair Historical Society, the Montclair Republican Club, the Essex County Republican Committee, and the Deer Lake Club among many others. She enjoyed playing and watching sports, was an avid tennis player and bowler, and enjoyed knitting, needlepoint and quilting. She also worked as a phlebotomist with the North Jersey Blood Center from 1979-1988. She received the first Silver Fawn Award ever awarded in scouting in 1971 and was the Grand Marshall of the Montclair 4th of July Parade in 1975. She moved to Lancaster Mass. in 1988 to care for her aging parents where she continued her community involvement with the First Church or Lancaster, the Female Charitable Society and the Current Topics Club while continuing to enjoy playing tennis and rug hooking. She returned to Montclair in 2004. Helen is pre-deceased by her husband of 23 years, Theodore C. Nelson and by her brother William Hayden. She is survived by her four sons, three daughters-in-law, six grandchildren, and her sister Marjorie Atkins of Rockville, Md. Funeral services will be held at Union Congregational Church at 176 Cooper Ave., Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 on 3/2/16 at 10:00am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Friends of Glen Gray, PO Box 43654, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043 or the Women’s Club of Upper Montclair at 200 Cooper Ave, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043, or to Boy Scout Troop 13 c/o Union Congregational Church at the address noted above.