Nellie Mae Briden, 95, of Harrisonville, MO died Saturday, April 9, 2011 at Cass Regional Medical Center in Harrisonville. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, April 14, 2011 at the Atkinson Chapel in Harrisonville. Burial will be in Freeman Cemetery, Freeman, MO. Visitation is from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Thursday before the service.

Nellie was the sixth child born to Grover and Sophia Zelphia (Sutton) Hook. She was born April 18, 1915 in Freeman, MO. Her mother died when she was only three years old. Her father remarried when she was eight years old to Mary Downs, blessing her with nine more brothers and sisters.

Nellie married Charles "Buddy" Briden on March 9, 1932. To this union eight children were born. Nellie was a true farmer's wife and lived most of her life in the Freeman and Peculiar areas. Earlier in her married life she and her husband would take trips to Idaho in their Model A Ford with a few kids in tow. She said she was always glad to get back home. Nellie worked outside the home from 1967-1988 for the Little Shirt Company in Freeman, MO as a seamstress.

All of her children fondly remember how well she could cook; she made the best homemade noodles, doughnuts and cinnamon rolls. They also remember the giant garden she always had. She gardened up to the age of 80. She taught most of her kids to swim in a pond or river and was always helping them with their homework, while having great patience with them. Nellie said she enjoyed each of her children, and was glad she raised them in the country.

Nellie was a devoted mother and grandmother. She enjoyed sewing and made many beautiful quilts that have won many blue ribbons in local contests.

Nellie was preceded in death by her husband in June 1995, two sons, Marvin Briden and Jimmy Briden, a daughter, Elva Jean Perry, her mother, father, and step-mother, six brothers, Emmett, Raymond, Cleve, Glen, Bill and Floyd Hook and a sister, Carrie Baker. Nellie is survived by one son, Charles Briden of Deepwater, MO; four daughters, Elsie Edwards of Salt Lake City, UT, Kitty Jane Fountain, Carol S. Gideon and Joan Call, all of Deepwater, MO; two brothers, Grover Hook Jr., Freeman, MO and Clarence Hook, Kansas City; four sisters, Dorothy Sexton, Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Rosemary Pulliam, Archie, MO, Phyllis Hook, Kansas City and Lois Swearingin, Buffalo, MO; 18 grandchildren; 11 step-grandchildren; 45 great-grandchildren; 31 step-great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren.