Elizabeth "Betty" Friesen Nelson

Elizabeth “Betty” Nelson of Lake Charles passed away at the age of 89 on May 10, 2025.

She was born on April 30, 1936 to Ferdinand P Friesen and Viola Anna (Liechty) Friesen in Lake Charles, LA. With the exception of brief stints in Denton, TX and Baton Rouge, she lived all of her life on Friesen Road, south of Lake Charles (a road her grandfather built). She attended LaGrange High School, where she played French horn in the band and made lifelong friends she delighted in seeing for reunion planning for decades after their graduation in 1954. She attended McNeese State College and graduated with a degree in secretarial sciences. She was a lifelong member of Simpson UMC and then St. Luke-Simpson UMC after the two churches merged in 1983. She had her first date with Curtis just after she graduated from high school. They went to an Elvis movie. It was several years before they went out again. They married in 1961 and were married for 58 years before his death in 2019.

She was devoted to her church and her family and cared for many older relatives and several grandchildren throughout her life.

She is survived by her children, Sarah (Nelson) Roth (Cary, NC) and Peter Nelson (Beaumont, TX); son-in-law, Richard Raymond and daughter-in-law, Adriane (Marchand) Nelson; grandchildren, Clare Roth, Emerson Nelson, Hayes Nelson, and Beckett Nelson; sister-in-law, Luckey Friesen; nephews, Donald Friesen and his wife Janet, Richard Friesen and his wife Lisa, Roger Nelson and his wife Mary; and Karl Friesen; and a niece, Kandice Friesen.

She was predeceased by her parents; her brothers, Edwin J. Friesen and James R. Friesen (and his wife Billie); brother-in-law, Ronald Keith Nelson (and his wife Marjorie); and nephews, Daniel Friesen, Ronald K. Nelson, Jr., and R. Scott Nelson.

A funeral service will be held at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at St. Luke-Simpson UMC. Pastor Tracy MacKenzie will officiate. Burial will follow in Highland Memory Gardens under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home. Visitation will begin in the church at 11:00 AM and continue until the start of the service.