Person:Nellie DeWitt (1)

Although Death certificate clearly states that March 14, 1915 was Nell's dob, and this is the date she celebrated her birthday in life, her birth certificate has some legibility problems with the month of her birth. It doesn't really look like "March", but it doesn't really look like any other month either.

Uncle Bob DeWitt called Nell "Good Yetty". She remembered his every visit and thought he was like having a fairy godfather. She admired his smile and his personality and was amazed that he kept his homespun quality throughout his lifetime.

Nell and her sister Ruth were inseparable. They loved clothes, makeup, double dating, and dncing in the ways of the marathon dancing contests. Her older sister, Luella (Deedie) DeWitt Simpson, had two evening dresses in storage at the Commission Farm in Rye Hill, in Elmo's white leather suitcase (36"x60"x14"). One dress was grey silk crepe with a high Oriental (beaded pearl) collar, and the other was tangerine-color taffeta. Nell and Ruth borrowed the dresses to go dancing at "Didiers" (The Bob Wills Band of "San Antonio Rose" fame). Nell became distracted while pressing the slinky grey fashion and a hole the shape of her iron went all the way through. Happy ending - Deedie had not planned to wear the dresses after she purchased them on her world tour in Paris, France.

As a young person, Nell had movie idols like Norma Shearer (her look-alike). She was an artist (should have been a writer). She was a complex person; sultry yet devoted to those she loved. In a letter to her sister Sallie on 27 March 1972, Nell recounted memories of the Commission Farm, in Arkansas. "Do you recall the back entrance of the enclosed porch where we kept wash pans and water buckets on the shelf? Another door led to the large kitchen. I can see all of us there eating those country breakfasts at the large table. Mama's rocker at the side of the stove where she used to sit dunking biscuits in her half cup of coffee and adding a boiling warm up ever so often after she had seen to it that all of us had all we could eat. Those "sugar pies" that went to school with us from that kitchen! Nothing spells more lovin' than something from the oven, and Mama's always did it best. Pillsbury is for the birds in comparison."

Nellie attended schools in Rye Hill and Ft. Smith Arkansas, and in St. Louis, Missouri. While attending school in Fort Smith, she shared an apartment with Juanita Wright, of Southtown (south Ft. Smith). Her other good friends were Opal and Bartona Dial. She graduated from Central High School in St.Louis, where she lived with older siblings while finishing her high school education. She met her future husband, Tony Abshier, in St. Louis, when he was working with her brother-in-law at an upholstery shop.

After marrying Tony Abshier, the couple moved from St. Louis to Raymondville, Texas, and to Corpus Christi before settlling in California, where they lived and raised their family.

According to J.T. Abshier, Grandpa Lee DeWitt was upset that Nell's cousin 'Johnnie Bob' Hodgens married a Mexican, and cut him out of his will for that reason. Nellie Elizabeth knew about this and sent Johnnie Bob Hodgens $10,000 out of her own inheritance when Lee died.

According to my Dad (J.T. Abshier), the house at 3556 133rd, Hawthorne, California was the first house that Tony and Nell purchased. They bought it in 1945 and it was located in a tract of homes called "Crenshaw Villas". It was purchased under the 50/50 plan. You needed $50 down and $50 a month to own one of these homes. My Dad reported that Tony's Mom and Dad (Clyde and Audrey Abshier) purchased a home nearby, at 3613 133rd Street. The house at 3556 133rd was where Tony and Nell lived when my Dad, Jerry T. Abshier, was born. When we were looking through some of J.T. Abshier's momentos on Jan 23, 2005, that were passed on to him by his mother Nell E. (DeWitt) Abshier, we found a reference to this address in some of the information. This address was noted on the envelope of a birth announcement for baby Diana Beachum, from Diana's mother (Ruth DeWitt), who lived in Albany, California. We also have an old photo of Tony Abshier sitting on his Harley motorcyle with Nell and Ruth on the back, in the driveway of this house. We visited the house at 3556 133rd on 30 Jan. 2005 and took some photos of it.

The Abshier home at 133rd Street in Hawthorne, California is where I have childhood memories of playing their large backyard. I sometimes stayed the night with Grandma Nell and Tony and was treated like royalty when I was there. Nell fixed me egg-in-toast in the morning and often took me bowling. This home was built by Tony Abshier and his adopted father, Clyde Abshier, and was on a large lot. Apartments were later constructed in the back part of the lot and then the Hawthorne, California home was sold and the couple moved to Esplanade Street in Orange, California.

Nell suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis before she broke her arm at home, while going to answer the telephone. Nell was in the hospital, recuperating from the broken arm, when she died unexpectedly one night, possibly from a massive pulmonary embolus. Nell was cremated and her ashes were scattered by her sons Jerry T. and Richard in the desert, near Blythe, CA.

Per the Sallie DeWitt 1981 Genealogy: "Nell was a housewife, businesswoman and devoted wife. She was also a perfectionist!" She was very-much admired by the entire Abshier clan for the dedication she showed to her husband when he was striken with a debilitating stroke in the latter part of his life.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Abshier, Jerry D., personal knowledge.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   ppg. 25, 39, 93.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} DeWitt, Nellie Elizabeth; Death Certificate. (dated 23 Aug. 1994).
4. ↑ DeWitt, Nellie Elizabeth; Birth Certificate. (dated 15 April 1915).
5. ↑ Abshier, Jerry T.; personal knowledge.
6. ↑ 1920 U.S. Census Sebastian Co., Beverly Twp., Arkansas
   Roll T625_81, Sheet 2B.
7. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   pg. 39.