V. Sophia Nelson

V. Sophia Nelson, 89, formerly of Newburg, late of Florence, MT, departed this life on Thursday, May 15, 2025.

She was born on March 1, 1936, in Newburg, a daughter of the late Wilmer and Carrie (Shuman) Hensel. Sophia was a 1954 graduate of Shippensburg High School and a 1958 graduate of Shippensburg University. She earned a Master’s in elementary education from McNeese University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where she also received her plus thirty degree.

Sophia spent twenty-eight years in the Louisiana Public School System as a second grade teacher. In 1999 she retired from teaching and moved back home with her sister to the family farm in Newburg, Pa. She enjoyed twenty years there but shortly after her dear sister, Alice, passed away, she moved out to Big Sky Country, Montana to live out her days with her daughter. They went on many adventures over the four years she lived there and met lots of new friends.

Her love of the Lord was evident to everyone she spoke to. She read and studied her Bible daily and she was looking forward to her home in heaven to be with her family who had gone on before her.

Sophia is survived by her daughter Patricia A. Brister and husband Tim of Florence, MT; her son, Mark H. Nelson and wife Angie of Nashville, TN; four grandchildren, Emily and husband Vince, Andrew and wife Tori, Grant, and Avery; and one niece, Kathleen Bistline and husband Roger.

In addition to her parents, Sophia was preceded in death by her brother, Theron Hensel, and her sister, Alice Hensel.

Her memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m., on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at the Hopewell United Methodist Church of McKinney. The Rev. Kevin Hughes will officiate. Interment will follow in the Otterbein Cemetery.