On April 21, 1918 people in Olympia gathered to celebrate the ongoing construction of the new Olympia High School building on what is now Capitol Way. As Joseph Wohleb, architect of the building, raised the American flag up the flag pole at the site, one teacher sang the “Star Spangled Banner.” Her name was Gertrude Nelson and she was then supervisor of music for the Olympia school district. She was also the aunt of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who is considered the founder of Earth Day.
Gertrude Cecelia Nelson was born to Christian and Gina Nelson on September 6, 1883 in Thorp, Wisconsin. Her parents, immigrants from Norway, had a farm. The family must have valued education. According to the 1905 Wisconsin State census, Gertrude worked as a teacher in the Centuria area.
The Nelson family decided to relocate to Montesano, Washington a few years later. Gertrude’s father became president of the Nelson Land Company. Her brother Ove Nelson worked as the company’s manager and was also Montesano’s city lawyer.
Gertrude continued teaching. In 1909, she received a license to teach in Chehalis County —renamed Grays Harbor County in 1915 — and taught in Hoquiam schools for a time before being hired by the Olympia school district in 1914.
She became an assistant teacher at a temporary school that was created to ease overcrowding by housing seventh and eighth graders from Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt Schools. Called the Central School — not to be confused with the more famous historic Central School — the building was formerly the home of the Olympia Collegiate Institute and other educational groups.
One student in particular had fond memories of these years. Writing about her days at the Central School, Elizabeth McElroy Allison in her reminisces — stored at the Washington State Library and reprinted in the Thurston County Historical Journal No. 15) — stated that: “Miss Nelson was dear and taught us too. She was a music teacher also. We had a girls chorus and learned many classical tunes.”
Gertrude continued to teach at the Central School for the 1915-1916 school year. The school then closed as the overcrowding problem resolved itself.
However, Gertrude found a new niche when she was made supervisor of music for the Olympia school district. She was also supervisor of drawing and writing. As supervisor, she sought to increase the importance of music in local schools. One thing she did, as the Morning Olympian described on March 20, 1916, was to hold a series of concerts, “for the purpose of elevating the standards of music in the public schools of the city” where John McCormick, a noted tenor from Ireland, sang. He performed at Washington, Garfield and Lincoln schools.
Gertrude also coordinated and directed two operettas at Olympia High School. On March 30, 1917 the Girls Glee Club, with assistance of boys from the school, presented “Priscilla, or The Pilgrim’s Proxy” at the Ray Theater downtown. Thirty-five students participated in the play, eight of them as the main cast. The story is based on Longfellow’s poem the “Courtship of Miles Standish,” which tells the highly fictionalized story of a love triangle in the early years of the Plymouth colony. Four members of the school orchestra provided music. Tickets were sold at the Bookstore downtown.
The play was heralded as a success. The next day the newspaper enthused that it was, “played to a crowded house and that the students made a decided hit was evidenced by the applause given each number and the repeated encores that were demanded by the audience.”
A year later, Gertrude repeated her success when Olympia High School students staged the operetta “Princess Chrysanthemum” at the Ray Theater on March 1, 1918. The fanciful story told the tale of a kidnapped princess. After eight weeks of practice the students were ready to perform. Costumes were shipped from Seattle.
Gertrude also performed in school programs. She played a violin solo in May 1915 at a Peace Day program at Central School. Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Josephine Preston spoke at the event. Gertrude also sang solos at the eighth-grade graduations for Olympia schools in 1915 and 1916.
As a teacher, Gertrude was active with the Thurston County Institute, an annual continuing educational meeting of teachers from across the county. In addition, Nelson was a member of the P.E.O., a philanthropic organization for professional women. She participated in a musical hosted by First Lady Alma Lister at the Governor’s Mansion in March 1916, singing “Awake My Heart with Rapture.” In April 1917 Gertrude even hosted the group at her room in the Capital Apartments.
Gertrude’s musical endeavors were not restricted to schools. She was active in Olympia’s First Methodist Episcopal Church and frequently sang at sacred music concerts and other meetings. A member of the Epworth League, she even led a discussion at a March 1918 meeting about “The Art of Living with others.”
Gertrude left Olympia and attended Ellensburg Normal School, now Central Washington University, before graduating from Washington State College, now Washington State University, with a degree in music. But she was not done studying. In 1922 Gertrude went to Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. She later earned a master degree in music from Columbia University in New York.
Gertrude continued to teach music, especially singing. She lived in Seattle for many years with her sister Alma Nelson Blake and spent her later years with her nephew Gregory Nelson and his wife in Montesano. Gertrude died on October 18, 1970 at age 87. Although Gertrude was only in Olympia for a time, her love of music lives on in the school district’s strong musical programs.
