Mary Nelson

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Mary A. Blankenship Nelson, 84, died Oct. 8, 2002, at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau.

Born Oct. 28, 1917, on an island in the Ohio River in Livingston County, Ky., she was the daughter of the late James Allen and Lura Marie Walton Blankenship. She attended school at Gorham, Ill., and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and moved to Kewanee with her family. She served with the Air Corps in communications during World War II and was a charter member of the East Cape Baptist Church in East Cape, Ill.

In 1939, she married Mac M. Thompson who preceded her in death. She and Raymond W. Nelson Jr. were married in 1973 and he also preceded her in death.

Survivors include: one daughter, Marty Hunt of Liepers Fork, Tenn., two sons, Steve Thompson of Huntsville, Texas, and Stan Thompson of Jackson; one sister, Evelyn Pinnell of Sikeston; two brothers, Jay Blankenship of Kewanee and Ed Blankenship of Millington, Tenn.; and several grandchildren, stepgrandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Richards Funeral Home in New Madrid, where services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The Rev. Raymond Oxford of East Cape will officiate.

Burial will follow in Garden of Memories Cemetery at Sikeston.