Beverly was born in St. Paul, MN, and moved to Tacoma when she was three years old with her parents, Dr. Frederick and Mabel Howe. She graduated from the Annie Wright School in Tacoma, and from the University of Washington with a B.A. in child development. She was a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority.

She married James Nielson in 1947, and he took her from the metropolis of Tacoma to a town of about 800 in the Flint Hills of Kansas where he was working with farmers and ranchers as a county agricultural extension agent.

Beverly’s dedication to her family limited her work experience. However, she worked as a dental assistant in her father’s dental office; as a service representative for the Bell Telephone Company; at the Harvard library when Jim was working on his graduate degrees there; and at the Washington D.C. Convention Bureau.

After Harvard, Beverly moved with Jim wherever his work took him – to Michigan State University in East Lansing; Washington State University in Pullman; the federal government in Washington D.C; and Seattle. After retirement, they spent four years in Gig Harbor, and moved to Panorama in 2002. In 2015, she moved to Frisco, Texas.

Beverly was a member of  P.E.O. Chapter  CF.  She was involved in volunteer work for many years, including serving as a docent at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C; as a “Pink Lady” at the hospital in Pullman; various activities at churches she has been associated with; and working on the patio sale and the flower show at Panorama. She enjoyed reading, and she and Jim enjoyed traveling. They traveled extensively in the U.S.; in Europe, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Middle East and some in Asia.

She is survived by her husband, Jim, of Lacey, and son Noel Nielson (Aranes) and grandsons Christopher and Edward, Frisco, TX; son Douglas Nielson (Mary Lynne), Roswell, GA; and sister Gretchen Earley (John), Bothell, WA