‘Shocking’: Family remembers late North Marion teacher

MANNINGTON, W.Va (WDTV) - The North Marion community is mourning after losing one of their own this week.

Nelson Elliott, a beloved math teacher at North Marion High School, passed away this week at 67. He death leaves a wife, mother, four kids, dozens of cousins, and an entire community in mourning.

Tuesday was just another day for Nelson, telling jokes to his students and being his regular self. But then -- tragedy struck.

“Here’s the bad side of being kind of a jokester sometimes -- he kind of slumped in his chair. The kids were like, ‘Oh, he’s asleep. He’s just being silly.’ But the longer it went on, they realized something was wrong,” said his wife, Leisha.

There’s been an outpouring of love for nelson since his passing, something Leisha says is a testament to the kind of man he was.

“Not only has Marion County rallied around us, but even schools from outside the area. That means a lot to my family,” she said.

Despite near-universal love from all of his former students and colleagues, Leisha doesn’t think Nelson was aware of the impact he had on the world around him. “He would be shocked, because he wouldn’t think he’d be deserving of that much attention.”

Rusty Elliott was nelson’s cousin, but as he tells it -- they were really more like brothers. Nelson’s death was an unexpected blow to him.

“Everything seemed to be good. We had no idea. It was just... shocking,” he said.

Rusty says Nelson was always quick with a joke, a hard worker, and truly wanted to make the world a better place through kindness.

Leisha agrees, and hopes when people remember Nelson they don’t just focus on his passing.

“Try to put those terrible moments of that particular time out of the way, and just tell stories, and tell a quick joke when somebody else is down. I think that would be a great way to remember him,” she said.

Rusty agrees, and adds “Nelson’s going to be remembered as a legend, because his mentality and the way he treated people is going to live on forever.”

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