Nellie Lee Ard, 89 of Phoenix, Ariz., died after a brief illness on Thursday April 7, 2011.
She was born on Oct. 18, 1921, in Elsmore, to Joseph and Donna Bowen. Nellie, known to all as Lee, moved to the Phoenix area in 1944 and took a job as “Rosie the Riveter” in the defense industry and later worked in the computer industry as a quality control inspector.
She enjoyed quilting, arts and crafts, cards, cooking, sewing and spending time with family and friends.
She married Dewey C. Ard in 1938. He died in 2004.
She is survived by a brother, Carl Bowen and his wife, Darlene; a sister-in-law, Joyce Mapp; three sons, Darrell and his wife, Joanne, Jon and his wife, Georgia, and Stephen; a daughter, Delores Wright and her husband, Raymond; a son-in-law, Terry Cheney; 15 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; eight great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews, co-workers and friends.
She was preceded in death by her daughter, Deborah.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Best Funeral Services — North Central Chapel, 501 E. Dunlap in Phoenix.
Graveside services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, 23029 N. Cave Creek Rd., in Phoenix.
Memorials are suggested to the American Cancer Society.
Nellie Lee Ard
