Nellie Fielder

Next time you pick strawberries or have some homemade blackberry jelly, think of Nellie Little Fielder. Nellie entered eternal life on Saturday, September 20, 2014. Her spirit is carried on by her loving daughter Susie, 5 grandchildren, six great grandchildren, neighbors, extended family of Aplin and Morrilton and friends at Bayou Meto Baptist Church.
Living to just a few weeks shy of her 99the birthday gave Nellie a broad perspective on life and account of the past. All you had to do was ask and she would share some pretty great stories.
Like the spring of 1933 when she earned enough money picking strawberries to buy her four brothers each a new pair of overalls, her four sisters each a new dress, and herself a new yellow dress for her wedding and silk chemise for her honeymoon.
The evening she married Robert Leonard Fielder, they were woken up by the town of England Arkansas for a shivery, a southern tradition of pranking newlyweds. Nellie and Leonard were carried out of their house and all around to whoops and hollers then dunked in a water trough. When Nellie would tell that story, she would conclude by fussing about the ruin of her pretty silk chemise that turned orange from the England water.
Nellie taught her grandchildren practical skills like how to roll down a grassy hill for fun- and other important things like that. At 50 years old she could still twist her arms around her crossed legs and do a "pumpkin roll" for her grandchildren.
Her recipe for dumplings was pour flour in a bowl, add pinches of this and that, and scratch your hands around while pouring in the milk "until it's just right." From her kitchen, she was most known for, hands down, the best blackberry jelly around, homemade chocolate fudge, peanut brittle, and her classic cornbread (not the cakey kind.) Having been lifelong gardeners, Nellie and Leonard always had a garden that fed themselves, Susie and Ronnie, all the grandchildren and most of her church family, veggies and fruit for the whole year.
In her life Nellie was a cotton picker, fudge maker, gardener, dress maker, loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She had two green thumbs capable of growing beautiful pink tomatoes and even more, a beautiful family.
She is survived by her daughter: Susie and son-in-law Ronald, grandchildren: Crissie; Sheila (husband Todd, children Luke, Ava); Ronda (husband Brent, children Haden, Chloe); Amy (husband Brad, children Max, Sienna); David, and many great nieces, nephews and friends.
Nellie was preceded in death and is reunited in heaven with her husband and favorite railroad Engineer this side of the Missouri Hoxie Line: Robert Leonard Fielder and her beloved son Bobby (Robert Leonard Fielder Jr.), her siblings: sisters Elcy, Anna, Helen, Clete and brothers Lawton, Herman, Thurman, and Bruce.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at Smith-North Little Rock Funeral Home. Visitation will be held on Tuesday from 1:00 p.m. until service time. Burial will be at Arkansas Memorial Gardens. Online obituary and guest registry at www.smithfamilycares.com .