1101 32nd Avenue South * Fargo, North Dakota 58103
(701)237-4857 * FAX: (701)237-9822
Sister Yvonne Nelson, 79, a member of the Sisters of the Presentation, Fargo, died Wednesday, March 5, 2008 in the infirmary at Sacred Heart Convent.
Sister Yvonne was born August 7, 1928, in Scobey, Montana, one of seven children born to Selmer and Elizabeth (Brown) Nelson. She attended grade school at Scobey Scholl and
graduated from high school at Sacred Heart Academy in Fargo. Mary Veronica Nelson, as she was known in school, was taught by the Sisters of the Presentation and entered the Order in Fargo in 1948 and received the name Sister Yvonne.
She made her final Profession of Vows in 1954 and celebrated her Golden Jubilee of Profession in 2001.
Sister graduated from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, MN in 1958,
with a Bachelors Degree in English and Social Studies minor, and in 1968 she graduated from Marquette University with a Masters Degree in Secondary Administration.
For twenty years Sister Yvonne taught in Catholic grade schools in Fargo, in St. Alphonsus High School in Langdon, ND, and at Shanley High School in Fargo
where she served as the Chairperson of the English department. In 1971, Sr. Yvonne felt called to work among the poor in Appalachia, starting in McKee, KY
, and then moving on to Jellico, TN, where she spent a total of 25 years setting up programs to help the local people help themselves. She also spent five years in Native American Ministry in Lame Deer, and Busby, MT.
Sr. Yvonne served in administrative posts in the Presentation Order- as Director of the Peace and Justice Office, as Vice-President of the Order and as Council
member and Director of Presentation Associates. Sister was living at the Presentation Sisters’ Motherhouse in Fargo at the time of her death.
