A memorial service time and place for Barbara Jean Nelson, 73, of Shelbyville, will be announced in the spring.

The former Barbara Pechta was a daughter, mother, sister, aunt, and friend for life died Jan. 19 while vacationing in Key West, Fla., something she looked forward to doing two weeks every January.

She was born in Manistique on Aug. 25, 1948, and grew up on beautiful Brevort Lake in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In 1969, she married Patrick Nelson, whom she first met at Ferris State University and who survives her.

She and Patrick moved to the Wayland area after Pat accepted a position teaching sciences at the local high school. Holding a degree from Davenport College in Grand Rapids, Barb worked for several years as a court reporter before pursuing other business interests.

Since their retirement, Pat and Barb began splitting their time between Michigan and Florida. Barb began a new chapter of her life in 2001 when she and son Erik founded Presidents and Patriots History Tours – organizing motor coach tours with historical themes. Several of their trips were filmed by C-SPAN for subsequent broadcast.

Visiting Ireland’s famine torn countryside, Winston Churchill’s beloved home Chartwell, and the wind-swept summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington opened Barb’s eyes to a world scarcely imaginable to the little girl from the small Upper Peninsula town of Brevort.

Barb is survived by her husband Pat, son Erik, her mother Dorothy (Pechta), her mother-in-law, Mary Nelson siblings, Robert Pechta, Susan (Kurt) Ney, Laurie (Dean) Steiner and William (Gwen) Pechta; Nieces and nephews: Wendy (Jon) Hicks, Hailey Ney, Kelly (Chris) Davidson-Adams, Brendon Steiner, Lewis Steiner, Alyssa Pechta, William Pechta and Nathan (Heather) Farkas; and several great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her father, Wes Pechta; her brother, Stephen Pechta; her father-in-law, George Nelson; sister-in-law, Vicki Lynn and several aunts and uncles.