Violet P. Nesler

Madison Violet Aleta (Phelps) Nesler passed away suddenly on Friday, Nov. 5, 2010, at the Legacy Gardens assisted living facility in Madison. She was eighty eight years old. Born on a farm near Bayard, Iowa, Violet was the older of two daughters and as a result learned to help with farm chores at an early age. She grew up during the Great Depression and trained to become a rural school teacher. Her career was interrupted by World War II and she joined the Navy's Women's Auxiliary Volunteer service (WAVES) where she served as a typist in Washington D.C. After the war she took advantage of the GI Bill to go to college at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where she met her future husband, William Nesler. They were married in 1948, and both graduated in 1949. Bill Nesler got a job offer at the Wisconsin Power and Light Company in Beloit, so they moved there where Violet worked as a teacher for the vocational school and then raised two sons, Thomas and John. In 1976, Violet started a store in Clinton, Wis., called Violet's Fabric Shoppe which she operated until she retired. After Violet retired, she moved to Stoughton, to live with Marie Dorie and later lived in Madison. Violet was also active in many civic organizations such as the Playhouse Nursery school, Women's veterans groups, and the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Violet loved to travel, taking many trips overseas including one around the world trip visiting Denmark, the Soviet Union, before it collapsed, and Communist China. She is survived by her two sons and their wives, Tom and Kathy Nesler and John and Konni Nesler. She is also survived by her sister, Dorothy Neal and her husband, Lee and her four grandchildren, Paul Nesler, Sarah Wolf and her husband, Andrew, Havalyn Nesler and Annetta Nesler. A Memorial Service will be held at the UNITY CHURCH at the corner of Groveland Terrace and 601 Tompkins Drive in Madison, on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010 at 3 p.m.