Verbie Bess Nelson, 80, of Dimmitt, passed away on Sunday evening, September 14, 2014 in her home. Funeral service will be held on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 1:00PM in the First United Methodist Church of Dimmitt with Rev. T.C. Broom, pastor, officiating. Burial will follow at Castro Memorial Gardens Cemetery under the direction of Colonial Funeral Home. A family reception will be held Wednesday from 6:00PM - 8:00PM at Colonial Funeral Home, 809 Butler Blvd., Dimmitt, TX 79027. Verbie was born July 11, 1934, in Austin, Texas to Raymond Lee and Vadabel Baze Oldham. She grew up in Lubbock, graduating from Lubbock High School in 1951. She attended Texas Tech University and the University of Texas - Austin. During her high school and college years, she was a violist in the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and the University of Texas Symphony. She also sang in the Texas Tech Choir and was inducted into Mu Phi Epsilon music honorary and Kappa Kappa Gamma social sorority. She met her future husband, Don Nelson, in the Texas Tech Choir when both were 17 - year old freshmen. They were married on August 28, 1954, in Lubbock. They observed their 60th wedding anniversary this year. After her husband's graduation from UT, they lived in Dimmitt for a year, then moved to Augusta, GA, where he was stationed two years with the US Army Signal School at Fort Gordon. While there, she was employed in the headquarters of the Provost Marshal General Center. She and her husband were members of the Augusta Choral Society. Returning to civilian life, they moved to Globe, AZ, where he was managing editor of the Arizona Record. While living in Globe, they sang together in popular sextet that performed sacred music, and she also played viola in a string ensemble and was the director for a time of her church choir. She also helped establish Globe's first pre-kindergarten program. After living seven years in Arizona, she and her husband moved back to his hometown of Dimmitt, where he joined his father as a partner in the community newspaper, The Castro County News. They were blessed with three children: Connie, born in Augusta in 1958; David, born in Globe in 1961; and Nathan, born in Dimmitt in 1966. In 1972, Verbie returned to college, commuting to West Texas State University in Canyon, where she earned a BS degree in education in 1973. She taught language arts in Dimmitt's elementary and middle schools for 25 years, and was honored at the schools district's Teacher of the Year in 1994. Her favorite hobby was fly-fishing, a craft she learned from her father and taught to her husband. Through the years, she and Don fished creeks, streams and rivers throughout the Southwest and Mountain West together. She also enjoyed all forms of travel, whether by plane, cruise ship or their fifth-wheel travel trailer. She panned for gold, caught salmon and played tag with a humpback whale in Alaska; played with manta rays in the Cayman Islands; spent two weeks on the four main islands of Hawaii; lived for a month in the Alps of Switzerland and France; spent a week in Stockholm, Sweden; and visited for two weeks in England and Scotland. After her husband's retirement, they "hit the road" in their travel trailer and spent almost four months touring the Midwest, New England, the East Coast and the Deep South - 23 states in all. The onset of cancer (non-Hodgkins lymphoma) in 2006 and the resulting chemotherapy and radiation therapy hindered, then virtually halted, her ability to travel or to lead an active life. Verbie was a member of the United Methodist Church, Kappa Kappa Gamma social sorority, Delta Kappa Gamma honor sorority for women educators, Mu Phi Epsilon music honorary, and the Texas Retired Teachers' Association. She is survived by her husband, Don; children, Rev. Connie Nelson of Dallas, David Nelson of Dimmitt, and Nate and Karen Nelson of Flower Mound; and six grandchildren, Katherine Wilkinson and Anna Nelson-Daniel of London, England, Amanda Nelson of New York, N.Y., Danielle Nelson of Madison, WI, and Jake and Allie Nelson of Flower Mound. The family has requested memorials to the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge, 3513 10th St., Lubbock, TX 79415, Castro County Child Protective Services, c/o First United Bank, 201 N. Broadway, Dimmitt, TX 79027 or to a favorite charity. Sign the online guestbook at colonialfuneralhome.org