An Arkansas Beginning and a Washington Ending
Myrle Marie Nelson’s life stretched from rural Arkansas to the Pacific Northwest, while her children became closely identified with Texas music. That geographic separation is one of the defining features of her family story. She was the mother of Willie Hugh Nelson and Bobbie Lee Nelson, but she was not the grandparent who raised them in Abbott.
I find it helpful to establish that distinction at the outset. The Nelson family story includes birth parents, grandparents, later marriages, and musical memories. Giving each person the correct place avoids turning a complicated childhood into a simpler story than the known facts allow.
Myrle was born in 1913 in the Pindall area of Searcy County, Arkansas. May 3 appears as her birthday in genealogical accounts, but the exact day is less firmly established than the year and place. At her death she was known as Myrle M. Harvey, connecting the familiar Nelson name to a later chapter of her life.
Marriage to Ira Doyle Nelson
Myrle married Ira Doyle Nelson on September 6, 1929, in Newton County, Arkansas. They were teenagers. The couple moved to Abbott in Hill County, Texas, looking for work, and began a family there.
Their daughter Bobbie Lee Nelson was born on January 1, 1931. Their son Willie Hugh Nelson followed on April 29, 1933. Willie’s birthday was recorded by the doctor as April 30, a small discrepancy that has become a familiar part of his biography.
Ira worked as a mechanic. The marriage did not last: Myrle left when Willie was still an infant, and the divorce became official in 1935. Accounts differ on whether her first destination was Portland or another part of the Pacific Northwest, but they agree that the children remained in Texas.
Ira later remarried, with Lorraine Edna Moon identified as his wife in 1936. That later marriage belonged to his life, just as Myrle’s later Harvey surname belonged to hers.
| Date | Family milestone |
|---|---|
| 1913 | Myrle is born in Arkansas |
| September 6, 1929 | Marriage to Ira Doyle Nelson |
| January 1, 1931 | Bobbie Lee Nelson is born |
| April 29, 1933 | Willie Hugh Nelson is born |
| 1935 | Divorce becomes official |
| 1974 | Myrle moves to Yakima |
| December 11, 1983 | Myrle dies at 70 |
The Grandparents Who Raised the Children
Bobbie and Willie grew up with their paternal grandparents, William Alfred Nelson and Nancy Elizabeth Smothers Nelson. Their grandparents’ household in Abbott became the center of the children’s early lives and musical development.
The distinction between Myrle and Nancy is especially important. Nancy was the grandmother who continued raising the children after William Alfred died. Willie’s later recollection described his parents attending his grandfather’s services and leaving again, while his grandmother remained the steady caregiver.
I would not soften that separation into a story of an intact household. At the same time, the available details do not permit me to describe every private exchange between mother and children or assign a single motive to her departure.
Willie later tried to reach his mother in the Pacific Northwest, and their connection continued into his adulthood. The dates of every visit or move are not established. These fragments show that departure from Texas did not mean her name disappeared from the children’s lives.
Work and Life in the Northwest
Myrle’s later life included many years in Eugene, Oregon. She moved to Yakima, Washington, in 1974. That movement gives a broad outline of where she lived without supplying a complete household chronology.
Her work has been described as including waitressing, dancing, and dealing cards in western states. Specific employers, dates, and wages are not established. I therefore describe the kinds of work associated with her life without constructing a detailed employment history.
She was not a documented recording artist. Music nevertheless appears in the family background: Willie recalled music within the Greenhaw family, Myrle’s birth family. Accounts naming her parents as William Alex Greenhaw and Bertha Greenhaw also connect that branch to musical ability, though these details rest more heavily on family remembrance.
I keep ancestry traditions separate from verified vital facts. A family claim about Indigenous heritage does not, by itself, establish a particular documented tribal connection or explain a person’s decisions.
Later Marriage and Final Years
By 1983, Myrle was publicly identified as Mrs. Harvey. Her husband had died in 1977. Genealogical accounts call him Ken or Kenneth Harvey and also describe an earlier marriage to Claude Sharpensteen, with variations in that surname’s spelling.
The Harvey surname is secure in the final chapter of her life, but the full sequence and dates of those later marriages are less certain. I would not turn the repeated names into a marriage calendar that has not been firmly established.
Myrle died of cancer on December 11, 1983, at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. She was 70. A particular cancer type is not established in the strongest contemporaneous account, so I do not narrow the diagnosis further.
One detail in her surviving family list remains unresolved: a daughter was named as Mrs. Syble Young, while the established family biography identifies Bobbie Lee Nelson as her daughter. I do not assume that Syble was Bobbie’s alternate name or invent an additional child to resolve the difference.
Her Children’s Separate Musical Lives
Willie became a major country songwriter, singer, and performer. Bobbie built her own musical life as a pianist and a longtime member of his band. Born two years before her brother, she remained an important musical presence until her death on March 10, 2022.
Their achievements grew from experiences that included the Abbott grandparents’ home, church music, work, and later professional collaboration. Myrle belongs to their family history, but those careers should not be described as her professional accomplishments or used to estimate her finances.
FAQ
What was Myrle Marie Nelson’s birth surname?
Her birth surname was Greenhaw. She later used Nelson and was identified as Harvey at the time of her death.
Did she raise Willie and Bobbie Nelson?
Their paternal grandparents, William Alfred and Nancy Elizabeth Nelson, raised them in Abbott after their parents separated and left.
When did Myrle die?
She died on December 11, 1983, in Yakima, Washington, at 70, from cancer. A specific cancer type is not firmly established here.
Is her net worth known?
No reliable personal financial figure is publicly established. Her children’s later success does not provide a measure of her own income or estate.
