Saturday services for Mary Margaret Nelson, longtime Menlo Park resident

Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, at the Church of the Nativity, 210 Oak Grove Ave. in Menlo Park, for Mary Margaret Nelson, who died Jan. 2 at the age of 95. Ms. Nelson died just three blocks from where she was born on the James C. Flood estate, where her father was head gardener.

She lived her entire life within a radius of three miles on the Midpeninsula, say family members.

The daughter of Italian immigrants, she was a 1938 graduate of Sequoia High School, where she met and eventually married Henry W. Nelson. Ms. Nelson was an accomplished cook and baker, providing her family and friends with traditional Italian meals, as well as Danish desserts and cookies inspired by her Danish-born husband.

She was a selfless and loving matriarch who remained vibrant and engaged with family and friends until the last two months of her life, say family members.

She is survived by her two children, Pam Bonino of Menlo Park and Dency Nelson of Hermosa Beach; half brother, John Beltramo of Atherton; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Her husband of almost 54 years died in 1994.

Memorials in her name may be made to the American Lung Association.