FAYETTEVILLE — Barbara Anne Dusek Nelson,

the youngest of five born to Emma Regine (Lee) and John A. (Jack) Dusek of Albert Lea, Minn., joined both parents and all her siblings when she passed from this life on Aug. 15, 2020, in Northwest Arkansas.

Born Aug. 30, 1937, in Faribault, Minn., she married the love of her life, Rollin Matz (Ron) Nelson on Aug. 18, 1962. They went on to share a love of animals, nature, and good food for over 50 years.

She is survived by many nieces and nephews, grandnieces/nephews and great-grandnieces/nephews in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Arkansas.

Barbara suffered multiple injuries in a car accident in 1963, while pursuing her master of social work degree at Florida State University. After several days in a coma she was found to have lost the sight in her right eye due to the head injury. But, after many months of recovery from her other injuries, she was able to complete her degree.

She went on to work several years as a psychological social worker, first in the Miami area and then for over 30 years in and around Knoxville, Tenn. She received several awards for her work, chaired numerous professional committees, and was a field director for the graduate school of social work at the University of Tennessee.

She and Ron, an architect, artist, expert woodworker, and gourmet, enjoyed lifelong friends as football fans (both Miami Dolphins and University of Tennessee), as dog lovers, and through their professional relationships. They were always concerned for the welfare of unwanted/ abandoned animals and Ron was a key player in starting the Sevier County Animal Shelter in the early 1970s.

The Nelsons were known to have as many as 13 shelter dogs and a few cats at one time sharing their eastern Tennessee mountain home. Barb also loved to play the oboe, even as an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota. Over the years, she and Ron were frequent attendees of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Many thanks to her friends for their continued love and contact in her final years; Eve Gillespie of Florida, the Scotts and the Furlong-Fawvers of Tennessee, Romy and brother-in-law David of California, and her home healthcare nurse, Jennifer Steiner of Farmington, Ark.

No services are planned. Her ashes will be joined with Ron’s, who passed on March 5, 2017, back home on Tiger Hill.