Obituary for Nellie Edwards

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Life Story for Nellie Edwards

Nellie Fox Edwards discovered what she realized was her life’s motto tucked in her late mother’s papers:

“There is a destiny which makes us all brother and sisters
None go their way alone
What we bring into the lives of others
Comes back into our own.”
--a quote treasured by Nellie’s mother, Laura Mae Batman

Nellie was born on December 15, 1923 in rural Yakima, Washington to Laura Mae Cooley and Lewis Walter Batman. Her determination to advance women’s rights began with the death of her first husband, Edwin Ryder, which left her a teenaged widow with an infant daughter to support on $72 a month. Her second husband, Robert Holmes, was a union electrician who inspired her rise to leadership in the Retail Clerks International Association.

She would ultimately become Director of Political Education and Legislation for Oregon’s AFL-CIO, focusing her energy on creating Oregon’s bottle recycle bill, vote-by-mail, funding Tri-Met’s Light Rail, and passing the Equal Rights Amendment. She was part of an Oregon delegation to China exposing unsafe working conditions at Nike plants in the 1980s.

After retirement, she served as President of the Mental Health Association of Oregon and State President and National Legislative Council official of AARP, where she met her loyal friend Hugh Sowers. In 1997, she was inducted into the Oregon Women of Achievement Hall of Fame. Beyond her working legacy, she was a devoted mother and grandmother and animal lover, adopting dogs and cats from local shelters.

Her favorite photo was taken with Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who whispered in her ear “Us V.P.’s gotta stick together.” She was Vice-President of Oregon’s AFL-CIO at the time. But with the exception of the accomplishments of her children and their families, her proudest moment was consideration by President Jimmy Carter for the position of U.S. Secretary of Labor. Her career was memorialized at her 90th birthday party and with this final instruction:

“Meeting adjourned to join my mother and grandson. Sine Die!”