Nancy Allin Nelson's reach spread across Minnesota. Tens of thousands of young people were helped over the years by the training and resources her nonprofit provided to local organizations, health clinics and schools on sexuality and reproductive health.
The nonprofit she co-founded in 1989 — the Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention and Parenting (MOAPPP), later renamed Teenwise Minnesota — was just one of Nelson's causes. But it was probably the one she was most proud of, said her husband, Russ.
Among other things, MOAPPP for years issued the Minnesota Adolescent Sexual Health Report, with data tracking teen sexual activity and pregnancies. The group's annual statewide conferences at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center were a huge draw.
"She was a connecter and convener," said Brigid Riley, who ran MOAPPP after Nelson left.
"She was the shining light that many of us followed to make a difference in the world."
Nelson died peacefully of pancreatic cancer at her St. Paul home Aug. 5. She was 72.
Born in 1947 in Madison, Wis., Nelson was the youngest of three children. Her father was a doctor. Her mother, a homemaker, was an artist who painted. Nelson, an avid photographer, would say she inherited her "love of nature, love of beauty and art" from her mother, her husband said.
The two were high school sweethearts who met at a dance party their junior year. Russ said he instantly fell in love. They married in 1969, at the end of their senior year at the University of Wisconsin. Nelson had a degree in elementary education and French and worked as a teacher.