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Photo courtesy of Nancy Stillans.
Professional portrait of Bebe Nelson.
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Photo courtesy of Nancy Stillans.
Bebe Nelson and her daughter, Nancy Stillans, in 1986 outside of the Shades Cahaba school, which both women attended.
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Photo courtesy of Nancy Stillans.
Bebe Nelson wearing a silver mink coat that Stillans said she was proud to buy for herself.
One of Homewood’s earliest residents died Aug. 22 after 90 years of life.
Alta Bernice Alldredge Nelson was known to everyone as Bebe. Her parents were originally from Blount Co. but moved to Homewood in the 1920s. The area was rural at the time, said Nelson’s daughter, Nancy Stillans — the Nelsons moved to the area before the 1926 decision to combine the Edgewood, Rosedale and Grove Park communities into one city called Homewood.
“My mom would tell stories about having chickens and goats,” Stillans said. “To me, I think of it being in the city, but they had animals.”
Nelson grew up with a kind mother, Stillans said. During her childhood, Nelson witnessed her mother give aid to those who became homeless during the Great Depression.
“Bebe used to tell the story that during the Depression in the 1930s, apparently hobos were quite common,” Stillans said. “(Her mother) never turned a soul away. She always fed them. Apparently there used to be a hobo network where they would leave messages to those who came after them, and the message would say, ‘Kind lady lives here.’”
Nelson went to the Shades Cahaba school, which now only teaches elementary students, for all 12 years of her schooling until she graduated in 1948. Nelson loved everything about Homewood, Stillans said.
“We had wonderful neighbors, and she loved the small-town atmosphere,” she said. “Even when I was a child, I remember having my birthday party at Homewood Central Park and how beautiful it was.”
Nelson knew everybody in the community. Stillans said people would describe Nelson as a devoted mother, a gentle soul, and a person with determination.
“She essentially raised four children on her own after our parents’ divorce,” Stillans said. “And we all turned out to be college-educated, law-abiding, respectful citizens,” she added with a laugh.
“She was just strong. She was kind, but she had a strength of character that was amazing. And a sense of humor too.”
Nelson was fearless, and Stillans said she would often do things that embarrassed her four children.
“We were at a restaurant one time, and she needed a coffee refill, but the waiters weren’t coming around,” Stillans said. “So she got up, walked over to the station and proceeded to fill up her coffee cup. Myself, 13 at the time, I was mortified and wanted to crawl under the table. But that was our mom, and she would say, ‘It’s fine, I’ll just get it myself.’”
She never learned to drive throughout her entire life, but she never had to — public transportation was always available, Stillans said. She walked to the grocery store and took the bus to other places.
She was quite the fashionable lady, Stillans said. When she was in high school and began earning money for herself, she purchased a mink coat. As she got older and her hair turned silver, she always wore silver or blue clothes to complement her hair.
Stillans said Nelson was a wonderful cook and made everything from scratch. Nelson never used any recipes — she was intuitive with her cooking.
“I missed my mom’s cooking, so I called her up, ‘Mom, how do you make this?’” Stillans said. “She’d say, ‘You do a little bit of this or a little bit of that. You know, till it looks right.’”
Nelson eventually moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, and resided there until her death, but the family never sold the Homewood home. Nelson’s father was a carpenter, and although he didn’t build it from the ground up, he made many improvements to the home over the years.
“That’s why it’s very special to us as a family, and we’ve always considered Homewood to be our home, our spiritual home,” she said. “No matter where we live, Homewood is our home.”