FLORENCE SOPHIA CHURCH

Florence Sophia (Nelson) Church died Saturday morning, April 12, 2003, in Fairbanks. She was 90 years old.

A memorial service was held at Wasilla Senior Center on April 15, and a memorial reception was held at her son's home in Fairbanks on April 19.

Burial will be at Deschutes Memorial Gardens in Bend, Ore., where her husband is also buried.

Mrs. Church was born Dec. 19, 1912, in Mountain, Wisc., to Nels and Anna Nelson. She worked as a nanny in San Francisco during the 1930s and then joined her family in Alaska as part of the Matanuska Pioneer Project. During her early years in Alaska she worked in salmon canneries in Anchorage, Naknek and Dillingham.

On Oct. 26, 1942, she married Alfred Church. They owned a potato farm near Butte for several years before moving to Anchorage. In later years they lived in Chugiak and then Fairbanks. They moved to Bend, Ore., in 1987. After her husband's death on April 22, 1989, she continued living in Oregon and then moved to the Philippines for three years, accompanying her son, Nels, and his family. In 2000 she returned to Alaska and settled in Fairbanks with Nels' family. During her lifetime she spent more than 50 years in Alaska.

Her family said, "Florence is remembered as a wonderful mother, grandmother and friend who has left her family with a legacy of a loving home and a strong faith. Florence loved to sew and made many quilts for her family during the years. Florence also loved to play hymns and schottisches on her piano. She was a faithful correspondent and kept in touch with friends and family over many years."

Mrs. Church was preceded in death by her husband; two brothers, Ole Nelson and Paul Nelson; and three sisters, Christina Wanner, Alice Nelson and Lydia Nelson.

She is survived by three sisters, Julia Church of Wasilla, Ruth Moonier of Carlsbad, Calif., and Ganilla Erickson of Lawton, Okla.; a daughter, Rene Rieth of Lander, Wyo.; a son, Nels Church; 10 grandchildren, Christine O'Connor, Robert Rieth, Kathy Florenski, Nathan, Amy, Heather, Seth, Joshua, Justin and Jeremy Church; and seven great-grandchildren, Robert, Danielle, and Jackie Rieth, Jamie and Sean O'Connor, Christopher and Abigail

Florenski.