Joan Marie (Hurley) Nelson, 79, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, died Thursday morning, Feb. 22, 2018, at the Pasqua Hospital in Regina after years of battling cancer.

Joan will be buried with her husband in the Nelson cemetery lot on the farm in Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Joan was born in Butler and was the daughter of Clarence and Jane (Turgeon) Hurley.

She attended St. Paul's School, Butler High School and Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pa. She entered the Sisters of Mercy and was a teacher and principal during her 20 years as a nun. She also received an advanced degree in music.

Joan did missionary work in the summers in Appalachia and in Louisiana, as well as helping with the resettlement of Vietnam refugees.

After leaving the convent in the late 1970s, Joan moved to Southern California, which is where she met her future husband, Frans “Ed” Nelson. They lived in Costa Mesa, Calif., until they moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, so that her husband, who was a Canadian, could help manage the Nelson Farm located in Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Joan is survived by two brothers, Robert (Phyllis) Hurley of Park Ridge City, Ill., and John (Janice) Hurley of Erie; and one sister, Janet (John) Parks of Oceanside, Calif.; her in-laws, Esther, Ken, Don and Sharon Nelson of Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada; as well as five nephews, three nieces, six grandnephews and six grandnieces, plus numerous cousins.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Frans; her parents; and two sisters, Marian (Bill) Vogel and Virginia Hurley.

NELSON — A memorial service for Joan Marie (Hurley) Nelson, who died Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, was held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 3, 2018, at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Herbert, Saskatchewan, Canada.