Hello History Hatters!
36,525 days ago, on a chilly Sunday in Kansas,
on January 4th 1920, Nellie Opel Belden graced the world with her presence.
Born in Saxman, Kansas, which is located in Rice County,
both of her parents, Nelson and Wanda Belden, were also born in the same count.
Nellie was the fourth born of seven siblings
and she was just as precious
then as she still is today.
Here's Nellie at 11 months with her
four-year-old sister Winona.
At the age of five, Nellie left the Kansas prairie behind and took to the skies and her very first airplane ride!
Yeah, it wasn't very expensive that's for sure.
We made a deal and we got
to ride in an aeroplane.
Maybe only two could ride at a time with the pilot.
Getting around back then was very different than today.
Here Nellie explains how she used to get to school on a snowy day
Our Dad would bundle us up and put us on the pony and we'd go to school,
unless it was really cold.
I remember the horse we rode was Beauty or Pansy.
They were a sorrel and
white.
One time the horse decided that she didn't want us to open the gate she just tried to jump it.
[laughter]
Even travel by train wasn't without its challenges.
We were on a train to Chicago
and the windows were open
and so we got soot on us, on our clothing
Growing up, if you wanted to read at night.
We had gasoline lamps.
It probably was when I was in junior college that we got electricity.
We lived near Saxman, Kansas, east of Sterling.
Nellie only enjoyed a few short
years with her mother Wanda as she died
giving birth to Nellie's sister Rowena.
Aunt Ernestine and Uncle Milton adopted Rowena.
In Wanda's absence, Nellie's father Nelson relied heavily on his eldest daughter, Neva, to help raise his family.
In 1938, Nellie graduated from Nickerson High School where her parents were both alumni.
Nellie continued her education and moved to Hutchinson where she attended what
today is called Hutchinson Community
College, where she studied to become a
medical technologist.
While in school Nellie stayed with the president of the junior college.
Yeah and I was babysat their
little girl.
Nellie worked at St. Francis Hospital in
Wichita and specialized in hematology.
It wasn't long before Nellie began courting a naval officer, Gene Langston, from Hutchinson, Kansas.
Nellie and Gene married in 1944.
Their lives changed forever when Nellie gave birth to her first son, David.
David happens to be my father,
and then came my Uncle Eddie,
and last but not
least my Aunt Julie.
Nellie and Gene raised their kids to admire the great outdoors.
They hiked in the mountains of nearby Colorado
and Nellie ensured they learned to appreciate every tree, flower, and creature they encountered.
While the three siblings formed an excellent trio
they also had ample cousins in Wichita
to join in their merriment from Gene's
sister Catherine and his brother Lieb,
family gatherings grew quite large and
looked like a lot of fun. These friendships forged permanent bonds that remain today.
Outside of Wichita, the kids
loved exploring a ranch near Sterling,
which belonged to Nellie's sister, Myrtle,
and her husband, Dick Wellman.
At the Wellman ranch, the kids took turns riding horses and, well, just enjoyed horsing around.
They also enjoyed visiting the family of Nellie's older sister, Neva, and
her husband, Leo Massey, near Nickerson.
After a few years off while raising her children, Nellie returned to the workforce as a medical technologist in 1959 .
Tragically after surviving multiple combat missions as a naval fighter pilot,
Gene died in a civilian crash in 1961.
This loss was felt by all.
In the wake of this tragedy, Nellie's neighbor, Hal Welch, was about to lose his wife, Phyllis.
And she was diabetic all of her
life and then when she died this was the
same year that Gene was killed in an air
crash. At that time why I had already met
Nellie because she and Phyllis played
bridge together occasionally, and so I knew who she was, but somehow or
other that looked like a good combination,
and so a couple of years later, or less
than two years, I guess, we were married.
The families gathered for the occasion
when Nellie Opal Langston would become
Nellie Opal Welch.
Hal instantly gained three teenage children without any clue what he gotten himself into.
In the beginning, Nellie's sons, David and Eddie, didn't
give Hal an easy pass as their new
stepfather.
Nevertheless, Nellie and Hal navigated the situation as best they could and they built a life together in
Wichita, which everyone soon called home.
Nellie joined Hal's Church,
Grace Presbyterian, and they made friendships there that continued to span 57 years.
Hal worked as an architect and his
passion for art and history fused well
with Nellie's love of all things related
to mother nature.
Together they embarked on adventures to explore the ruins of ancient Greek city-states,
the Roman Empire, and some of the world's finest cathedrals.
They trekked through the Amazon to spot wildlife and ascended to the Incan Citadel of Machu Picchu.
They were sometimes joined on their adventures with close friends from Grace Presbyterian Church.
This was especially true when Hal and Nellie hit the slopes of Colorado during the winter months.
Hal even convinced Nellie to take multiple cross-country road trips on their motorcycle.
As David and Eddie grew their families Nellie discovered a new role as a grandma.
Their home was a gathering place for family events and it soon grew well beyond her immediate family.
With the loss of her sisters Neva and Myrtle,
Nellie and Hal's home became the
gathering site for the Masseys and Wellmans as well.
Every Thanksgiving the crowd seemed to grow and grow and grow.
Nellie's daughter Julie is a
multilingual world traveler who always
looks forward to coming home for the holidays.
Upon retiring in 1985, Nellie
began to take care of me full-time I was
often joined by my cousin Julian. We
spent a lot of time climbing trees.
As far as grandmas go Nellie is the best.
She imbued us with her spirit of adventure,
her love of nature and animals, just as
she had done for her own children.
In addition, Nellie also began to
volunteer in various roles through Grace
Presbyterian Church. She sorted through
donated clothes to sell at a
Presbyterian thrift store downtown. She
also began to tutor young children who
were identified by their teachers as
needing the additional health and
learning how to read
Nellie's roster of students is quite
long as she tutored until 2015.
From her beginnings in Saxman one thing is certain
I lived in Kansas my whole life
Today, on Nellie's 100th birthday
Governor Laura Kelly sent her a letter
congratulating her on achieving a
hundred years of life and denoting that
she is an excellent example of the
strength and character of a Kansan.
As for the rest of it...
I can't remember all this stuff [laughter]
