Newspaper Article 1982 – Died aged 105

Died aged 105

Hawke’s Bay’s oldest resident, Mrs Elizabeth Nelson, of Havelock North, died yesterday at the age of 105.

Mrs Nelson was the widow of the late Mr George Nelson who developed the historical Keirunga Homestead and gardens, which were deeded to the Havelock North Borough Council.

A former nurse, Mrs Nelson tended many New Zealand soldiers in hazardous conditions during the First World War.

On her return home in 1918 she set up her own convalescent home in Napier.

Her other main interest in life was writing verse and she had written a number of poems about Keirunga gardens.

Failing eyesight forced Mrs Nelson to stop writing poems when she was 101.

Mrs Nelson was born Elizabeth Goldsmith at Waipawa on December 28, 1876.

She died peacefully at Duart Home, where she has been a resident for the last eight years.