Louise Maxine Nelson Perdue was born June 9, 1920, in Concordia, Kansas, to F. Edward and Caroline White Nelson. She grew-up and attended school in Waterville, Kansas, graduating as high school Valedictorian when she was 16. She attended Pittsburg State University and received her degree in Business Administration in 1941. She was a member of several honorary scholastic fraternities.

Following graduation she worked in Kansas City, Missouri, in the personnel department of du Pont's Remington Arms Plant for a year. When the Navy established the WAVES, she applied for Officer Candidate School and was accepted in the first class at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. There she was commissioned in January, 1943, and sent to Thirteenth Naval District Headquarters in Seattle. She served in communications as a cryptologist there, and at Eleventh Naval District Headquarters in San Diego for the duration of the war. She was always proud to have had the opportunity to serve her country during World War II.

In Seattle she met James M. Perdue, Jr., a Navy pilot from Texas, and they were married on his return from active duty in the South Pacific on March 15, 1945. After their return to civilian life, they lived in Manhattan, Kansas, while her husband attended Kansas State University, and their son James Nelson was born. They then lived briefly in Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas, where their second son, Mark Revere was born. In 1957 they transferred to Austin, where they enjoyed 22 years together until her husband's death in 1979.

Louise retired in 1987 from the University of Texas, where she had worked in the College of Liberal Arts Dean's Office and the Chemistry Department for 24 years. Upon her retirement, she was active in the Assistance League of Austin for many years. She was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, where she served as Elder, since 1958. She was a member of LAMP at UT since its inception, and she was a member of the UT Retired Faculty and Staff Association. She enjoyed traveling numerous times to Europe, Canada and Mexico, as well as in the United States. Attending symphony and opera, and reading were favorite pastimes, but her greatest joy was being with family and friends.

She was predeceased by her parents, her husband in 1979, and by her only sister, Margaret Nelson in 1969. She is survived by her sons, James and his wife Gayle, and Mark and his wife Mary McNamara, her grandson Gabriel Perdue and his wife Jyotsna Osta and her brand-new Great-Grand-Daughter Eleanora, born August 14.

Louise's family would like to thank her many friends for their years of friendship and support, the caring staff at Westminster Manor and Arbor for her years [2006-12] living there, and Buckner Hospice for their care in the last days of her life.

A memorial service will be held at Westminster Presbyterian Church at 11:00am, with reception to follow, on Saturday, September 1. In lieu of flowers, a memorial gift could be made to the Assistance League of Austin, or any other charitable cause of the donor's choosing.