Nichole Krista (Ellerhorst) Nelson (April 1, 1974 – August 11, 2025) added beauty to our world through the nurturing care of her family. Carrying on through seven years of cancer (five of those at stage 4), she served as the family’s beacon of compassion, virtue, and faith. Even through her sickness, she navigated her family through their struggles. After listening intently, she would organize a person’s thoughts into creative solutions with practical steps to success. She loved managing people, finding their strengths, and putting them on a path. Her talents could have taken her to a company’s “C-suite”—we were blessed that she instead applied those gifts to her loved ones.
Nikki was born on April 1, 1974 to parents John Ellerhorst (deceased) and Julie Dennis. She and her sister, Jeannie (Ellerhorst) Kief grew up on the West Side of Cincinnati, attending grade school at Our Lady of Lourdes in Western Hills and secondary school at Mercy High School in Westwood. As children, Nikki and Jeannie enjoyed vacationing with their grandparents Nana and Pa (Nancy and James Couzens, deceased). Nikki was an all-around athlete on her West Side teams. For softball, she played third base and shortstop, mostly because she could fire the ball across the diamond. But the sport she most loved was soccer, where she defended the posts as a goalkeeper. Stories say that she was fearless and would willingly sacrifice her body for the save. After witnessing a number of headfirst dives, her Mom and her coaches made her wear a foam helmet. She also had to be constantly involved in school activities. She served as an officer in numerous school clubs, most notably as part of the Mercy Thespians, where she nurtured lifelong friendships on and off the stage. She was an intense scholar, earning a full scholarship to the College of Mount St. Joseph (keeping in the tradition of Catholic schools on the West Side) as a dual major in mathematics and education. After graduation from college, she taught in the math departments of Notre Dame Academy and St. Xavier High School. She left St. Xavier in 2000 so she could focus on raising a family of independent thinkers with strong roots in their faith.
She met her eventual husband of 27 years (Greg Nelson) because they shared a script at the first rehearsal of a community theater play. They married on December 27, 1997, after two years of dates throwing baseball, shooting basketball, going out to theater, and having more dinners than they reasonably should have. They started their family less than two years later with Anthony Dominic (1999), Sophia Nichole (2000), Genevieve Marie (2002), Gabriella Grace (2004), Griffin Gregory (2005), Alexander Jonah (2006), Daphne Isabella (2008), Aria Rose (2010), and Heidi Anneliese (2013). Genevieve blessed the family with two grandchildren, Isaí Arye Valle (2024) and Axton Tarlo Valle (2025). Nikki continued to teach mathematics as the children’s primary homeschool teacher (and head principal). She loved tracking down opportunities for her children to find their passions and work from their strengths. She tailored the education schedule and lesson delivery to the exact needs of each child. She built some of her most cherished friendships through homeschooling, serving as a teacher at the Immaculate Heart cooperative and as a youth theater director for DramatiConnections. She also involved herself and her children at St. John the Evangelist Church in West Chester, OH. Many a time, she volunteered her children to serve as last-minute altar attendants. Most of all, she wanted her children to find what they love and commit to their goals. Nikki wanted to stay with her children to keep them moving forward; but, as she declined in health, she felt certain that God would keep guiding them.
Nikki chose “Monica” as her confirmation name because St. Monica is the patron saint of perseverance. St. Monica prayed constantly for her son when he was living apart from God and before he became St. Augustine of Hippo. It is more than fitting that Nikki chose the patron saint of mothers as a model of endurance and faith.
The Nelson family is grateful for all the care we have received from those who love us so much. You have showered us with good things–food, money, rides, services, scheduling help, house upkeep, and referrals. You have talked with us, sat with us, cried with us, embraced us, called us, texted us, prayed for us, and prayed with us. We are blessed that you pour out your love on our family.
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