Mary Elizabeth Nielsen, 99

HOLDERNESS — On a cold, snowy night, a doctor arrived by horse-drawn sleigh at the farmhouse of Frank and Mae Piper near White Oak Pond in Holderness. On that 28th day of March, 1920, their son, Tolford, and his wife, Pattie, welcomed their only child, Mary Elizabeth, as she began her life's journey.

On July 1, 2019, her golden heart stopped beating and she started a new journey. She passed peacefully on to join her husband of 56 years, Knud Borge Nielsen, and granddaughter Cindy Gonnerman, having made this world a more beautiful and gracious place.

She will be missed by everyone who knew the radiance of her sweet smile and warm, generous personality. She was one of the most loving, compassionate people you would ever be blessed to know. She treated every day as special and saw miracles everywhere and in every one. She always found the best in others and had an aura of kindness, humility and generosity.

As an adored and well-loved child, her parents shared their heritage, rooted in small-town country values of fairness and caring for others. As an only child, her best friends were animals, plants and books. She had a natural curiosity and some of her happiest childhood memories were exploring the wonders of nature with her beloved father.

Her earliest formal education was at the one-room East Holderness School and she later attended the Squam Bridge School during the polio scare, as it was generally believed the country was safer than the city.

It was well-known in the community that her father was a hard-working, reliable man, and he worked for several families on Shepard Hill. His longest association was with Dr. Thomas Osborne, the co-discoverer of Vitamin A. The family lived with the Osbornes in New Haven, Connecticut, in the winter and resided in Holderness during the summer. Both her mother and father worked for the Osbornes and Helen Nicolay, daughter of John Nicolay, the personal secretary to Abraham Lincoln. Her father had the mail boat contract for Squam Lake for many years and delivered groceries and freight on his boat, the Nelly J. Mary Elizabeth remembers, as a child, if she were tired or if it was cold and windy, she would crawl with her blanket into a mail sack with her head sticking out. Her mother would tighten the cords to keep her snug and warm.

When she was a teenager, she helped her mother at the family business, the Pied Piper Tea Room, at their home on Piper Road. Miss Nicolay gifted them with two complete Victorian silver coffee and tea sets.

After graduating from New Haven High School, she attended Wheelock College in Boston when the founder, Lucy Wheelock, well in her eighties, was still teaching. Miss Wheelock helped establish kindergarten education in America and devoted her life to improving the lives of children and families. Mary Elizabeth was deeply inspired and had a sincere admiration and affection for Miss Wheelock and often joined other students Sunday evenings beneath her bedroom window to sing to her. In 2015, Mary Elizabeth was honored at her 75th Wheelock College reunion.

After graduation in 1940, she taught grades 1-3 at a two-room school in Dalton. In 1941, she married her Danish-born husband, Knud, at St. Peter's on the Mount on Shepard Hill. She was unable to return to Dalton, as married women were not allowed to teach. Knowing her love for children and teaching, her husband constructed a building near their home in Ashland and, for several years, she had a kindergarten on Highland Street. She later taught first grade at Ashland Elementary School.

It was an idyllic life for their six children in Ashland. They were active in school and St. Mark's Church, and Mary Elizabeth was a Worthy Matron of Mount Hope Chapter 5, Order of the Eastern Star. They built a riding area for the horses, tapped trees and made maple syrup; and, thanks to the generosity of the Glidden family, they skied every weekend in the winter at their ski tow. Apple trees were plentiful and Mary Elizabeth canned applesauce, vegetables from her huge garden and bushel baskets of peaches.

After the death of her mother, the family moved to Holderness and she immediately planted a garden and row upon row of flowers. She loved seeing daffodils with their sweet faces when they arrived in the spring. To the delight of boaters going through Squam Channel, she hung baskets of petunias, pansies, impatiens and coleus, a tradition her great grandchildren are continuing.

She was a deaconess at the Holderness Community Church, a valuable resource as a director of the Holderness Historical Society, a docent at the Squam Lakes Science Center and a member of the Ashland Garden Club. As a direct descendent of William and Susannah Piper, the first settlers of Holderness, she was grand marshal of the street parade for the Holderness 250th birthday celebration in 2011.

Her grandchildren, Kristen and Dylan, grew up on Piper Road and she enjoyed spending time with them and her sweet dog, Sunshine. Her three-year-old great-grandson, Oliver Piper Fuller, was recently asked if he was having a good day. He replied, "l always have a good day," and we feel that was true of Mary Elizabeth. She never complained and was one of the most joyful people you could know. Her children can't remember her ever raising her voice to scold them and she was always a serene, loving presence. Much to the outrage of her daughters, their father had a bell he used to summon her. She would come running whenever she heard the bell and, when asked why, she said it made her happy when she heard the bell, as she loved caring for him. Their husbands didn't get any bells.

In retirement, they did traveling most often in Hawaii in the winter where she was active at Kawaiaha'o Church in Honolulu where, even today, services are held in English and Hawaiian. The ladies at the church taught her local crafts and she made feathered headbands for her daughters.

She lived a life of joy and would want us to reaffirm the basic goodness and kindness she experienced her entire life. The sun always seemed to shine upon her and you wanted to be in her presence to warm your body and soul. We thank God for her life and love and her wonderful life of worth and purpose. We will always love her more than words can say and cherish the time we had with her.

We would especially like to thank Nate and Kristen Fuller, Amanda Groleau, Jill Burtt, Donna Bunnell, Judy Warren, Live Free Home Health Care, Pemi-Baker Community Health Hospice team of doctors, nurses, caregivers, and all their volunteers that read and played music for her.

Her children — Ann Marie, Patty Sue (Bill), Allie, Eric (Bonnie), John (Vicki), Bill (Angela) and Ian — grandchildren — Tom, John, Hal, Jimmy, Alex, David, Sandy, Abby, Dylan and Kristen — great-grandchildren — D.J., Kaylie, Lorelai, Juliet, Ryan and Oliver — and great-great-grandchildren — Jaycen and Kinsley — invite you to celebrate her life at the Holderness Community Church on Saturday, July 27, at 11 a.m.

Donations may be made in her memory to the Holderness Historical Society for flowers on the bridge, or Holderness Community Church.

Dupuis Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. For more information, go to Dupuisfuneralhome.com.