Pearl Catherine Nelson

Pearl was born on January 26, 1926, in Estevan, SK, to Andrew and Hannah (Jonsson)  Olson.  The family moved to the Stockholm area when she was young.  She attended Scandia School.

When she was ten years old, her mother passed away from tuberculosis.  She quit school at a young age to care for her baby brother, Hughie.

In 1945, Pearl married Gordon Nelson.  They farmed at the top of the Qu’Appelle Valley.  Paul was born in 1946 and Gayla was born ten years later.

In 1974 Pearl and Gordon moved to Esterhazy where they managed three apartment  buildings.  Over the years, Pearl worked for the province of Saskatchewan as the caretaker of the spring in the Valley.  She also worked in various restaurants.

Pearl and Gordon were life-long members of the New Stockholm Lutheran Church.  Pearl was active in the Ladies’ Aid.  Pearl was a faithful attendee at productions of the Sow Belly Soup Group and was an avid fan.  She loved to play cards, do crafts - especially embroidery, play and watch curling, and socialize.  She was known as the thin-bread-lady.  Even though she has not baked thin bread in recent years, its quality is still fondly remembered by many.

At a young age, Pearl became an enthusiastic photographer and spent many Sundays with her Hawkeye camera wandering the roads of her community taking photos of homesteads and farms.  She took great pride in her Swedish heritage and made it her avocation to chronicle the homes and lives of the people of her community.  In 2005, Pearl published a book “Ohlen District Homesteads, The First Swedish Settlement in Saskatchewan - A Tribute in Photos”.   She received many grateful acknowledgements of her contribution to this preservation of history, including an award from the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan. 

Pearl is predeceased by her parents, Andrew and Hannah Olson, her husband, Gordon, and numerous sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law.  She is survived by her son, Paul and Darnelle, her daughter Gayla and John Hedstrom.  She is also survived by grandsons  Patrick and Chantelle (Duchek) Nelson, Shawn and Barbra Wilson, Jared and Twyla  Wilson, and David Wilson; great-grandchildren Sonny Duchek and Beckett Nelson, Joshua and Tya Matychuk, Megan and Austin Skinner, Braxton Matychuk, Sierra Wilson, Jenaya Wilson, MacKenzie Wilson.  She was fortunate to celebrate the birth of five great-great-grandchildren:  Brooklyn, Kyla, Jackson, Emma, and Reese.  Pearl is survived by her two siblings:  Edna and Orville Paulson, Hugh Olson, sisters-in-law Rose Nelson, Myrna Molnar, and Dorothy Nelson, along with many nieces and nephews.