Elizabeth Nelson

Elizabeth Hope Nelson was born November 13, 2001 and left us April 13, 2020.

She added so much color to this world with her beautiful, feisty, resilient, untamed soul.   She felt love as deeply as she felt pain and had a legendary stubbornness.  During the last few months of her life, she started going by her middle name, Hope.

So many people loved her.  Her friends talked about how passionate Hope was in encouraging them and trying to help them believe in themselves.  She was quick to get fierce in defending anyone who needed an ally.  She was fired up about her passion to be a mental health advocate and help others.  Sometimes she felt that words weren’t enough and had a talent for expressing her feelings through art.

Elizabeth Hope was a senior at Horizonte in Salt Lake City.

She had a great passion for animals.  When she was three she could catch any chicken - just grab their tail and pull them in.  Then carry them like a baby, and perhaps put lipstick on their beak.  She loved her dog Dakota, who patiently wore multiple hair bows and girls’ swimsuits, ballerina skirts, and various other costumes.  She loved horses most of all and was quite the horse whisperer.   She loved participating in the Cache Valley Horse 4H program with her best horse, Myra, Miss Carol Hancock.   Elizabeth Hope volunteered at the humane society and also at Heart Ranch in Hawaii.  She wanted to be a vet or a vet tech.

She is survived by her adoptive parents, Glen Nelson and Maya Kimberly Collinwood and her birth mom, Maria Estela Bedolla; her brothers, Bradley Nelson (Becca, Isaac, and Kade), Gideon Kai (Dawni and Trinity), Carlos Bedolla, Jase Barnes (Brindley and new little Kaizlynn Elizabeth), Angel, and Eulogio; and her sisters, McKenna Nelson, Joanna  Faith Nelson Collinwood Raedon and Rachel Charity Nelson.

Elizabeth Hope lived in Cache Valley, Utah; Big Island, Hawaii; and most recently in Salt Lake City.

Life is precious and inherently difficult.  Many wonderful family members, friends, teachers, therapists, and so many others tried to help Hope.  Suicide creates waves of feelings and thoughts but ultimately, we are immensely grateful for the time we had with Elizabeth Hope and feel an increase of love for each other and for the experiences of life.

A private memorial was held April 20, 2020 due to social restrictions at the time.