Ann Nelson
Office Administrator
Hello! My name is Ann Nelson and I am the Office Administrator at Bethel. I have had quite a variety of careers before settling in this position in August 1999.
I was born and raised near the agricultural/wood factory town of Jasper, Indiana. After high school, I trundled off to Indiana State University where I floundered for about a year trying to “find myself.” Restless, I joined the U.S. Air Force where I worked for 13 years as computer operator. This gave me the opportunity to study and travel in Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Germany and Illinois.
In 1983 I met my future husband Russ, a parish pastor at the time. We were married in January 1984. In order to retain the tenure I had built up in the air force, I transferred to the Air Force Reserves where I worked as medical technician for 8 years. During that time, I finally settled down long enough to finish my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. During that period, we also adopted two special needs siblings, Shawnda and Shawn, aged 5 and 8.
I worked as the librarian and a substitute teacher at the kids’ school until Russ was called to a teaching position at Concordia University College in Edmonton. We moved to Sherwood Park in 1989 and truly feel blessed to be here.
For 10 years, I worked at Concordia in the library as a shelver, filer, and clerk and then picked up my computer skills once again when Concordia and the library became automated in the mid 90’s. When the position at Bethel became available, I thought it might be a nice, quiet job after the hectic pace at Concordia. That was NOT the case but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
More recently, my experiences took on another form as “Grandma" was added to my life’s resume' with the birth of two grandchildren.
This is an exciting time to be a part of the team at Bethel and I thank God for the opportunity to serve as Bethel’s Office Administrator.