Elizabeth Solis Nelson

Elizabeth Solis Nelson has died in Corpus Christi, TX, on February 9, 2020, at age 90. Born Elizabeth Solis on April 14, 1929, to Ernesto Solis and Otila Garcia Solis in Kingsville, TX. Elizabeth graduated and received her BA and MA degrees in Education from Texas College of Arts and Industries (today, TAMU-K), where she, also, studied French a few years later. Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband, Rodney H. “Rod” Nelson, her mother, father, siblings: Eva Solis, Felix Solis, Ernesto G. Solis Jr., Maria Consuelo Solis, David Solis, Enrique G. Solis, Joey Solis, Grandparents and several aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins. She is survived by siblings: Norberto G. Solis of Kingsville, Rene G. (Lydia Manuelita) Solis of Keizer, OR, Irma G. Solis of Corpus Christi, Eli Solis of Kingsville and several nephews, nieces and cousins. Elizabeth began her work as educator in small communities of South Texas. She, then, acquired a U.S. Civil Service job in Bordeaux, France (where she met her future husband, Rodney, who was born in MT, but grew up in Walla Walla, WA), and in Frankfurt, Germany. Returning to the U.S., she worked nine years in Bellevue, WA, until marrying Rodney in Beirut, Lebanon. They lived in the Middle East until his company retirement a short time later. Some highlights: an exceptional photographer, Elizabeth traveled throughout Western Europe and beyond shooting many beautiful images. She visited Dutch windmills in tulip season in The Netherlands and shot views of the canal in Amsterdam. Elizabeth rode a camel by the Sphinx and Pyramid of Giza in Cairo, Egypt, reveled walking down Le Champs-Elysees in Paris where she was mistaken for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and shot various images of the Eiffel Tower and Arch of Triumph from different angles. She went diamond hunting in a Middle Eastern diamond mine. The Nelsons celebrated their belated honeymoon in Hong Kong before returning to the U.S.A. They settled in FL, where they bought and operated a Children’s Nursery School until their second retirement nearly twenty years later. Elizabeth played the clarinet in school and loved music with a preference for the sound of the Big Band Era. Rodney, a WWII veteran and world traveler, passed away on January 3, 2007. A year later, Elizabeth came to live with her sister in Corpus Christi. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease while in her 80’s. The family of Elizabeth S. Nelson wishes to thank the staff of San Rafael Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and that of Angel Bright Hospice of Corpus Christi for the sensitive care she received while she was briefly in each respective facility. In lieu of flowers you may donate to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. Ramirez-Salinas Funeral Home under Daniel Salinas, Jr. is in charge of the double burial of Elizabeth and Rodney’s cremated remains with graveside service at Santa Gertrudis Memorial Cemetery in Kingsville, at a later date. For those details, please, call the Funeral Home at: (361) 592-2413.

Elizabeth Solis Nelson

April 14, 1929 - February 9, 2020