Nadeane Heckman Nelson was born to Claudina Valenzuela and Charles Heckman in Los Angeles, California.
She spent her early years in Los Angeles with her mother, then went to live with her grandmother, Salvadora Valenzuela, in Pala as a youth when her mother contracted tuberculosis. She went to Bonsall School and graduated from Fallbrook High School. She traveled all over the country with her husband of 20 years, Leonard F. Nelson, while he was in the U.S. Air Force. They were stationed in Korea and Japan overseas where daughter Patricia R. Nelson was born. She graduated from Howell Institute of Dental Nursing in Los Angeles and worked for Dr. Calhoun in Fallbrook. Nadeane took a post-graduate course in business training and was a printer at Bunell's Photo in San Diego. She was a grey lady during her husband's service years. Later she worked for Wilsey Bennett in Encinitas and Air Fresh Trucking. She also worked for General Atomic in Sorrento Valley. She owned "The Wigwam" Indian jewelry shop in Del Mar and traveled all through Arizona and New Mexico to purchase jewelry, pottery, Navajo rugs and other artifacts. She was a charter member of the San Dieguito Soroptimist Club in Encinitas. She owned a laundry mat in Del Mar, and was a member of the Del Mar Chamber of Commerce. While in Pala, she developed a small agri-business growing apples and apricots and eucalyptus which she sold to nurseries in the area. At the same time she worked for the Southern California Tribal Chairman's Assn. Food Distribution Program as the certifier which required her to travel to all the Indian reservations in San Diego County and Pechanga in Riverside County. She worked for 15 yrs. traveling to the reservations. She initiated the first recipe book for Indian families using commodity foods. She was a board member of the Indian Health Council.
Nadeane is survived by her daughters, Pam Ariso and Pat Nelson, grandchildren Claudina Micheletti, Mary and Leia Arviso, and Nadeana Rose Nelson, and great-grandchildren Ava and Tommy Lopez, Rocco and Edie Howard, Havana Escarcega, and Salvadora, Patricia, and Nadeane Bobb.
A rosary service will be held on Thursday, July 21, 2016 at 6:00 pm at Berry-Bell and Hall Fallbrook Mortuary at 333 N. Vine St., Fallbrook. A funeral Mass will be held on Friday, July 22, 2016 at 10:00 am at the Mission de San Antonio de Pala at 3015 Pala Mission Rd., Pala, CA. Burial will follow at the Pala Indian Cemetery.