Nelda Randall Brinkerhoff was born in her grandmother Stratton’s home in Snowflake Arizona on Aug. 9, 1923 to Alfred Harvey and Lena Stratton Randall. The funeral service will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 1127 Helen Ave. in Holbrook. A luncheon will follow. Graveside service will be at the Joseph City cemetery after the luncheon. Nelda grew up in Joseph City Arizona and attended Joseph City schools for 10 years and Holbrook High School for two years and graduated from Holbrook High school in 1941. She grew up with eight sisters and three brothers. She went to San Diego California in 1942 and worked for Consolidated Aircraft during World War II. She helped build over 5,000 B-24 bombers. She was a real-life Rosie the Riveter. After returning home she moved to Litchfield Park Arizona and worked as a secretary at the High School for 9 years. She married Grant Brinkerhoff in 1960 and moved to Holbrook. They had one child, Carolyn Brinkerhoff Reidhead in 1961. When Nelda married Grant, he had three children, Gayle, Terry, and Meri Lynn. She loved them as if they were her own and loved their children as her own grandchildren. Gayle’s children are Tanya and Brian Allen. Terry’s children are Julie Wilson and Lance Brinkerhoff, and Meri Lynn has a son Scott Owsley. They all called her grandma Nel. Nelda worked at the Forrest Service for a few years and then got a job at Holbrook High School, where she worked as a secretary for over thirty years. Most everyone remembers her not only as the High School secretary but also as the ticket taker at all the sporting events for Holbrook High School. Even after she retired, she continued to take the tickets for all the sporting events. If you went to a high school sporting event for a period of 30 plus years, she sold you the ticket. She stopped selling tickets in 2010. Nelda and Grant were active and supportive in the Holbrook Elks club and the Navajo County Sheriff’s Posse. Nelda was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints all her life and held many callings, mostly working with the young women. If you knew Nelda, you knew she was a Mormon! She loved the church with all her heart and she loved her family. Nelda’s Posterity Survived by A daughter, Carolyn Reidhead (Teele); grandchildren, Christen Cooley Haddox (Clint), and Jason Grant; great-grandchildren, Lena, and Trapper Haddox; a stepson, Terry Brinkerhoff; five step-grandchildren and nine step great-grandchildren; one brother, Doyle Randall (Jackie); and three sisters, Fern Whiting, Ordene Guttery, and Evelyn Solomon. Preceded in death by: Her parents, Alfred Harvey and Lena Randall; husband, Grant Brinkerhoff; sisters, Marine (Milton) Tempe Randall, Lorana Whiting (Micky), Beth Gardner (Leo) and Ina McDonald (Kyle); brothers, Raymond (Fae) and Norman (Verna Lee) Randall; and step-daughters, Gayle Allen and Mari Lynn Anderson. Service Information Viewing from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3, at the Holbrook LDS Church Funeral is at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, at the Holbrook LDS Church
