Mary Louise McHugh Nelson, a former trustee and missionary board member of Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton, died at home on Sept. 8 in Dalzell, S.C., where she had been living since 2011. The former East Hampton resident was 70; the cause was cardiac arrest.
“She was faithful and diligent in her service” to the church, where she had also sung in the choir, worked in the youth ministry, and attended Sunday school, her family wrote.
Born on Feb. 26, 1952, she was adopted by Francis LaPorte and the former Nellie Collins. She grew up here and graduated from East Hampton High School, going on to hold positions at the Windmill Deli, the I.G.A., and in the East Hampton School District.
She played softball in a women’s league and rooted for the Dallas Cowboys, and was known to sip tea with friends on Saturday mornings and take walks on Long Beach with a dear friend, Dr. Connie Jones.
In October 2000, she married Edward Nelson. He survives her.
Her family said she will be remembered as a “kind, caring, and giving person who always put the needs of her family before her own. She was a strong woman who faced every challenge in her life with courage and dignity.” She was “always good to good people,” her family said, “and she managed to be good to some who were not so good at times.”
In addition to her husband, Ms. Nelson leaves a son, Matthew McHugh, and a young grandson, Miles, both of Amagansett. She also leaves six siblings, Greta Pryor and Doug Tilton of New York City, James Devine of Montauk, John Hayes of Hampton Bays, William Harris of Amityville, and Marvin Collins of Odenton, Md. Two brothers, John MacPherson and Curtis Mabry, died before her.
The Rev. Walter Silva Thompson of Calvary Baptist Church officiated at services for Ms. Nelson on Sept. 16. She was buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery here. Her family has suggested memorial donations to the Kendall Madison Foundation at kendallmadison.com.
