Ms. Nelson is the mother of Christine Nelson and the grandmother of Emma Nelson and Jack Simpson. She was a single mother, who had gotten unexpectedly pregnant when she was seventeen and gave birth to her daughter, Christine. She and her daughter were very close and always trusted and shared everything with each other with a good bond. The father of her daughter was never revealed, let alone never even mentioned. Over time she worked her way up and opened and ran her own hair salon. She is portrayed by the late Rhonda Kristi.
Character History[]
Background[]
While a minor character in the TV series, the backstory behind Ms. Nelson and how Spike was born is revealed in Spike's novelization. Ms. Nelson lived in the country, and had gotten pregnant at seventeen. At the time, most unmarried, pregnant women were sent to a special home until the baby was born, for which it would go up for adoption almost immediately and the women would return having swept their pregnancy under the rug. However, Ms. Nelson decided to keep Spike, which shocked people. As a result, her parents barred her from speaking to her friends, and she was disowned by them, claiming she wasn't to "darken their doorstep" if she had kept Spike. Also, her boyfriend (Spike's father), did not want anything to do with them and left town. When Spike asks her mother why didn't she give her up, her mother replies that she couldn't pretend that Spike never happened.
Original Degrassi: Season 1[]
In It's Late, she was giving a client a haircut when Spike who at the time was worried about possibly being pregnant asked her how soon a woman could get pregnant and if it can happen only after the first time. She then revealed to her daughter and the client that It can happen quite often and that she had wished at the time she had been given more support about the responsibilities of the facts of life. Because she was about to begin University but she had to leave it and begin working after she had Spike. Later that night as she was cooking her and Spike a nice warm supper, she was worried to see her daughter not feeling well and wasn't to pleased to see Spike was hiding something in a bag not wanting to tell her what her what it was, worrying that her daughter may have had a problem but didn't want to tell her own mother about it. Finally, Spike threw the bag at her and she picked it up, took it out and looked at it with horror and shock. A day or two later she drove Spike over to the pregnancy clinic to have a proper test done to find out if she was pregnant for sure and when she found out spike was for sure, she was very upset about it but also very understanding and supportive about it because she had pretty much been in the same shoes too when she grew up and she knew it sure wouldn't be easy.
Ms. Nelson horrified to find out what was in the bag.
In Dinner & a Show, as she drove her daughter Spike to school that morning, she was worried when she found out that Spike did not have anything to eat for breakfast that morning and she reminded her that not only was she still growing but also she was pregnant, so it was very important to eat regularly to keep her and the baby healthy. After school that day when Spike came to work in the Hair Salon she told her that Shane's parents had invited them to have to dinner with them to all to get together and have a discussion about the plans for the baby. She at first she though Shane had been stubborn and didn't tell Spike about it but it turned out Shane had asked her all the other times but she didn't pass on the message because she was afraid of how the McKays would think of her for getting pregnant so young and what type of girl she was. She told her daughter just to be herself and not to care what people would think.
Dinner with the McKays
They met the McKays that night at a dining room restaurant and she ordered an expensive drink and paid for it herself. Mr. McKay who seemed a little embarrassed about the pregnancy recommended a place for Spike to stay until the baby was born so she get could away for a while thinking it would be better for her to get away from everyone she knew and to avoid any ridicule and cruelty. But she made it clear to him that she was staying at home, feeling it was in her best interests to stay at home and face the music of what had happened and take it one step at a time and not to just send her away like she committed a crime.
Original Degrassi: Season 2[]
In Censored, when the parents of many students at Degrassi Junior High were forming a PTA protest meeting to have Spike thrown out of school for setting a bad example. It was mentioned that she would try to do everything she could to persuade them to change their minds but she was just one person and it didn't work and a little later Spike was still expelled from school for the rest of the year.
In Pass Tense, she was shown driving Spike to school to take her end of the year exams, and she reminds Spike who was still upset about not being able to write them with everyone else that at least she still got to write them and finish her year. Also she tells her that she was really proud of how well she had been handling everything she been going through since she got pregnant. Later that evening when her daughter went to the end of the year dance she was phoned from school to announce that spike had gone into an early labor was going to have the baby.
Original Degrassi: Season 3[]
In Making Whoopee, she was seen at Degrassi Junior High School that night for parent's night and was given a tour of the school.
In Black & White, with Shane out of commission and no longer able to send them any money for child support for baby Emma, it was mentioned that she gave spike permission to look for an after school part time job, in which at the time Spike didn't have very much luck in doing so.
In Bye-Bye, Junior High, she was shown driving and dropping off an exhausted and rundown Spike to school to write her final end of the year exam, and she encouraged her not to give to up on school and only focus on Emma. She was later seen in her hair salon when Ms. Avery dropped by to offer Spike some upgrading courses to help bring her marks back up so she would be able to go to a good college or university.
Trivia[]
- Although she was occasionally mentioned in Degrassi High and Degrassi: The Next Generation, she never appeared on either series.
- She seemed to have a dislike for Shane. However, in the novel, she begins to like him after he defends Spike at the dinner.