Aug. 3, 1944 – Feb. 1, 2019

NATCHEZ — Services for Velma Washington Nelson, 74, of Natchez, who died Friday, Feb. 1, 2019, at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland, will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Windy Hill Baptist Church No. 2 in Cranfield.
Burial will follow at the church cemetery under the direction of Robert D. Mackel and Sons Funeral Home.
Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home and from 10 a.m. until service time Saturday at the church.
Mrs. Nelson was born Aug. 3, 1944, in Natchez, the daughter of Eddie and Estelle Malone Washington. She was the youngest of 13 children.
She was married 54 years to Lennox Nelson Sr. They had six children. She professed Christ under the leadership of the late Rev. Harry Grover at Windy Hill and served as a mother of the church and loved hearing the word of God from her pastor and praise from the choir. She worked in food services and retired from AJFC Headstart after 25 years.
She loved planting flowers, shopping, waking up her siblings at any hour to talk and spending time with a special friend, Beatrice O’Neal.
Nelson was preceded in death by her parents and six siblings, Augustine Green, Ethel Brown, Herman Washington, Pearlina Hutchins, Prettie Mae Brown and Alicia Ellis.
Survivors include her husband; four sons, Sandy Hutchins and wife, Angela, and Lennox Nelson Jr., all of Natchez, Carl Washington Sr. and wife, Sandra, of Byram, and Keyes Nelson and wife, Kendra, of Nashville, Tenn.; two daughters, Kimbrely Angelethy and husband, Cedric, and Clementine Hamilton, all of Natchez; 17 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; two brothers, Dan Washington Sr. and Nathaniel Washington Sr.; four sisters, Eddie Washington, Shirley Brown, Elma Washington, all of Natchez, and Grady Jones of Naperville, Ill.; and a number of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.