Singer, former Sun reporter Diane Nelson dead at 62 Multi-talented writer and entertainer remembered as "bubbly, vivacious, enthusiastic.” By: Ian Hitchen Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022 Last Modified: 1:01 PM CDT Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022

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Despite their shock and sorrow, friends and family are paying tribute to local singer and award-winning journalist Diane Nelson, who died in Brandon hospital on Monday.

Ken McPhail said his beloved wife’s death was the result of complications from a brain bleed and subsequent stroke.

“I have lost the most beautiful and precious thing in my life,” McPhail told the Sun on Tuesday.

McPhail said Nelson suffered the brain bleed at their Brandon home on May 7 and stayed four weeks at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg before being transferred back to hospital in Brandon. There, she initially underwent rehabilitation, but the 62-year-old was later placed in the palliative care unit, where she remained until her death.

Funeral arrangements would be underway today, McPhail said.

Born and educated in Brandon, Nelson’s career as a print journalist and broadcaster spanned 34 years. During her 15 years at the Sun, she covered the medical beat as the newspaper’s health reporter, and was known for her arts and lifestyles features.

During the 1990s, Nelson won the Thomson Newspapers International Award for deadline writing and three Manitoba Human Rights Journalism awards.

Former Sun editor Jim Lewthwaite described Nelson as a compassionate writer.

“She was very expressive,” Lewthwaite said. “It kind of reflected her personality, you know. She was bubbly, vivacious, enthusiastic.”

She was thoughtful, Lewthwaite added. He recalled how his grammatically minded mother was once hired by the Sun to catch mistakes in the newspaper — a task she did with gusto for years.

As a writer, Nelson truly appreciated the input, and when it came time for the proofreader’s birthday, it was she who suggested Sun staff affectionately send Lewthwaite’s mother mistake-riddled birthday wishes as a nod to her hard work.

Following her time at the Sun, Nelson joined Assiniboine Community College as a journalism instructor, but continued to write the weekly Curbside and Sun Shines features for the paper and penned a weekly wine column, Vine Lines.

Documentary filmmaker, scriptwriter, narrator and magazine writer were also among her talents.

She added author to the list when she wrote a book about the history of ACC, “Assiniboine: The First 60.”

However, McPhail said his wife’s first love was singing and performing for an audience.

Pianist Edna Knock shared some fond memories of her longtime artistic collaborator.

“She called me her musical mother, and I called her my musical daughter,” Knock said.

Knock recalled how a mutual friend brought the women together for the first time — Nelson was about 17, and Knock around 48. Nelson broke the ice by singing Gershwin’s “Embraceable You,” and Knock joined in on piano.

“And when we finished, she looked at me and said, ‘Wow,’” Knock said, adding the newly formed duo booked a Christmas concert at a city cathedral, and “the rest is history.”

What followed was three decades of shows at venues such as St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the local country club, and house parties where they’d perform mid-century popular ballads by composers like Gershwin and Cole Porter (although Nelson was also a noted jazz singer). The pair recorded two CDs together.

Knock described Nelson’s voice as mellow and “beautifully warm.”

“It was unique,” Knock said. “Nobody sounded like Diane.”

In recent years, Nelson taught journalism at Brandon University.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com