Mary “Mac” MacKinnon Nelson
Mary “Mac” MacKinnon Nelson, 84, of Portland, our mother Mary Mackinnon Nelson passed away on Monday, July 10, 2017 after a brief battle with cancer. Her family was with her when she passed.
Mary was born in Caribou, Maine in 1933 to Ada and John MacKinnon. She graduated from Caribou High School in 1950 and the University of Maine in 1954.
After graduation, Mary went to work as a probation and parole officer in Bangor, and that’s where she met her husband Lee Nelson. They wed in 1960. The family grew to three (Lee Jr.) in 1962, and Julie came along four years later. They moved from Maine to New York to Massachusetts to follow Lee’s television news career. When her children were older, Mary worked as a career counselor at Bernard Haldane Associates in Boston and later as a real estate agent in Medfield, Massachusetts.
In the early 2000’s, Mary moved back to Maine and dove head-first to the job of being “Grammy”. She was a regular fixture on the sidelines of Noah’s football and baseball games in Falmouth, and she never missed one of Xander’s concerts. And while her granddaughters Carly and Georgia live in Connecticut, she saw them often and bragged about them even more often.
Mary was an avid golfer and a rabid Patriots and Bowdoin Football fan. She was a strong, independent woman. She may have been small in stature, but she spoke her mind and her voice carried weight. Mary had a wonderful sense of humor. She was a loyal friend with many life-long friendships. Those “old” friends knew her as Mac. She was a thrifty, pragmatic New Englander, and she leaves this earth with no unfinished business.
Mary’s husband Lee died in 1980. She’s survived by her son Lee and his wife Cindy of Falmouth, ME, her daughter Julie Mori and her husband Chris of Westport, Ct, her grandchildren Xander and Noah Nelson and Carly and Georgia Mori, her brother Ed MacKinnon and his family of Londonderry, NH, and her sister Margaret McGrath and her family of Wilmington, DE.
A private memorial service will be held for close friends and family.
To share memories and condolences with the family, please go to www.coastalcremationservices.com
Online condolences may be expressed below.
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