LOGAN, Utah -- Mary Jean Nelson, an accomplished pianist and highly respected music teacher, died peacefully at her home in Morristown, New Jersey July 6, 2000.
Born in Logan, 1926 to Alma Nicholas and Mary Carlisle Sorensen, she excelled in piano at an early age and at 14 was performing at church and civic functions and giving piano lessons. Over her lifetime, she taught several generations of children and adult students and established a reputation as a teacher of great artistic sensibility and musical knowledge.
She graduated from Utah State University in 1948, where she received the College Award as the outstanding female graduating student, and then studied at the Julliard School of Music in New York. After her marriage to Winston Nelson, she lived for 10 years in Rockland County, NY while her husband completed his graduate studies and then taught at Columbia University. The family moved to Morristown, NJ in 1960 after Winston accepted a position at Bell Labs.
Mary Jean later continued her piano studies in New York with Edward Steuermann and Kyriena Siloti. In addition to performing on a regular basis as a soloist and with chamber music groups, she coached and accompanied hundreds of other musicians. She also regularly served as a judge in piano competitions and auditions. Her career as an active performer and teacher of music continued to the end of her life.
Survivors include her husband, Winston; daughter and grandson, Kristin and Alexander, Berkeley, CA; son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Lisa, Flanders, NJ; and four brothers, Wendell (Lou), Richmond, CA, Robert (Noel), McKinney, TX, Philip (Joyce), Mark (LaRae), both of Salt Lake City.
Mary Jean and Winston celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last August.
A memorial service to honor Mary Jean will be 10 a.m. Tues. July 25, at Allen-Hall Mortuary, Logan. Burial, Mendon Cemetery.
A memorial music scholarship fund has been established in Mary Jean's name by the New Jersey Music Educators Association. Those who wish to support this fund may send contributions to: Mary Jean Nelson MEA Scholarship Fund, c/o W.L. Nelson, 24 Erskine Drive, Morristown, NJ 07960.