Elliott, Audrey V. (Nelson)

Audrey Vernette (Nelson) Elliott was born in Buchanan County, Iowa, to Mervin and Grace Nelson on 27 December 1938. She was their elder daughter and eldest child; her siblings are Roger Nelson, Rev. David Nelson, and Mary (Nelson) Banwart.

She grew up on a farm in Buchanan County, leaving it at age ten when her father entered Methodist ministry. For the next few years, she moved with her family every few years as her father was assigned to different churches, as per Methodist church policy. Eventually, the family moved to Lamont, Iowa, where Audrey graduated from high school. She sought to attend college for a short time before returning to rural Iowa, working at a bank in Oelwein, Iowa.

Audrey married Russell Jay Elliott on 19 August 1958 in Lamont. Her father officiated at the ceremony; her grandfather served in the traditional place of the bride's father for the event. Following the wedding, the two moved to Kanawha, Iowa, where Russell had secured a teaching position.

In Kanawha, Audrey continued to work in a bank until the birth of her elder son, Kevin Jay Elliott, at which time Audrey assumed the traditional duties of a housewife and mother in the American Midwest of the mid-twentieth century. She continued in those roles as the family relocated to Hartley, Iowa, and later to Tama, Iowa, where the family settled more or less permanently.

In Tama, Audrey served as custodian of the local Methodist church for some ten years before taking a number of other jobs, including work in a gift and bridal store, a local floral shop, Agape rehab, a men's clothing store, five years at a local bakery and deli, and cashiering for fifteen years at a local pharmacy. She was also a member of Woman's Club, UMW, Book Club, and others, becoming a pillar of the community during her several decades living in Tama.

Her status as a key figure in the town was cemented by her persistent hospitality; she reports having "had company constantly" in Tama, despite living in a small house in the town. In the first few months living in Tama, Audrey notes that she hosted seventy-five people, even through a lack of money and the burden of repair and purchase of a new house. She describes the experience as having made her appreciate what she has, an attitude common among people of her generation and area.

The death of her husband in 2004 affected Audrey profoundly; she had crafted her identity around him for decades. In the following years, she made efforts to reconnect with the disparate parts of her family; Kevin had long since moved to Texas, and her daughter, Jodene Kay (Elliott) Walker, frequently relocated as her husband was reassigned by the United States Air Force. Her younger son and second child, Boyd Jay Elliott, being diagnosed with ALS in 2008 reinforced her desire to do so. Through his illness and death as afterwards, Audrey remained strong and became a focal point for her far-flung family, preserving a unity and a connection with the past among her kindred.