| Hughes, Arkansas School Faculty Memorial |
| Jesse Leroy Nelson February 21, 1887 – March 31, 1970 Principal Tenure: 1921 – 1924 |
| Mr. Nelson was born in Hickory Station (Caddo Gap), Montgomery County, Arkansas, to John Sterling Nelson and Alice Josephine (Johnson) Nelson. He married Lillias Diggs about 1917, and they settled in Conway County, Arkansas, where Mr. Nelson served as principal of the Morrilton High School. By 1920, they had moved to Pope County, and he appears in the census for that year as a schoolteacher. Mr. Nelson accepted the position of principal for the Hughes school system in 1921, but resigned after three years to become a rural mail carrier for the post office. They lived in Hughes at least through 1942, eventually moving to Marianna, where he died March 31, 1970, burial in the Marianna Memorial Park Cemetery. He was preceded in death by Lillias, who passed June 16, 1963, burial also in the Marianna Memorial Park Cemetery. |