Catherine Elizabeth Nelson died peacefully surrounded by her family on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2010.

A lifetime resident of Haverhill, she was born on Dec. 8, 1921, to Edward Franklin and Ruth Parker Douglass. A childhood polio survivor, she graduated from Haverhill High School in 1940. Through her life, she has been a candymaker, at Parker’s Candy Store on Washington street, day care provider, librarian, at the Haverhill Public Library, and part-time columnist (KatyDid and Collecting Cate) for the Haverhill Gazette. She married the late Robert D. Nelson, who died 1979, who served in World War II and was a career firefighter with the Haverhill Fire Department. She enjoyed collecting, traveling, and reading. She was a former member of the Winter street and First Baptist Churches in Haverhill, and then a member of the Hope Community Church in Newburyport. Catherine belonged to the Red Hat Society. She attended Star Island Conferences, in Portsmouth, N.H. for 30 years.

Survivors include two sons, Harry R. and his wife, Marjorie, of Salem, N.H.; Douglass B. and his wife, Cynthia, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and two daughters, Andrea K. and her husband Robert Penney of Salisbury; Gladys M. and her husband Clyde Williams of Front Royal, Va.; five grandchildren, Melody Lynn, Peter Nelson, Bret Nelson, Geoffrey Williams, Bradford Penney; three great-grandchildren, Brendan Lynn, Kaylee Nelson and Finn Olson, as well as several nieces and nephews. She was the grandmother of the late Bryan Nelson and the sister of the late Marcella Douglass MacKinnon.

Private interment will be in the Linwood Cemetery.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at the Hope Community Church, 11 Hale street, Newburyport, MA.

In lieu of flowers contributions in her memory may be made to Friends of Bethany, 10 Phoenix Row, Haverhill MA 01832 or to the Salvation Army 40 Water street, Newburyport, MA 01952. Arrangements are by the H.L. Farmer & Sons Funeral Homes and Cremation Service Haverhill/Bradford. Condolences to her family may be made at farmerfuneralhomes.com.