Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995                   TAG: 9501070012
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DONNA GARRETT SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SHOP LOOKED LONELY, SO SHE GAVE IT HER GIFTS

"It looked like a gift store," Nelson said of the shop that now houses her Windsor Gifts. She had passed the building many times since returning to Roanoke about 15 months ago and was drawn to it each time.

"It looked like it was lonesome and needed someone to come in and cheer it up," said Nelson, insisting she returned home just to enjoy retirement and do some volunteer work.

But in July, Nelson and her cousin Phyllis Kessinger opened Windsor Gifts in Southwest Plaza. The store, which the retired supervisor of school guidance counselors describes as "little," is named for Windsor Hills, the neighborhood where she grew up.

Nelson displays gifts that were inspired by items she has seen in Winterthur, a catalog of garden decorations, traditional home furnishings and jewelry.

"I like buying these pretty things people can have and enjoy in their homes and keep - not a fad or frivolous," she said. Catalog personnel "were kind enough to provide me with other names with similar gifts when I told them what I was going to do."

In addition to items from the catalog, Windsor Gifts provides an outlet for artists. Frank Murphy has some acrylics and pastels on the wall. Chris and Don Meador show watercolors and etchings. Pottery by Carol Rosenberg and Lucy Ferrell is featured in another area. A display of bird and wildflower prints by Kathy Seek is in front on the lower level.

"I wouldn't think of ordering anything [from the catalog] I could get in Roanoke," she said.

Kessinger, whose expertise is in flower arranging and decorating, leaves the customers to Nelson. Petite china cups and vases of dainty dried flowers throughout attest to Kessinger's talents and contributions.

"I enjoy seeing old friends come in," Nelson said. "Also, clubs, nurseries and organizations request a donation for a door prize, and I get to know them. Then the recipient of the door prize frequently comes in, and there is another friend."

Even without Windsor Gifts, Nelson would have had many old friends in the Roanoke Valley. On returning to Roanoke after a 25-year stay in Northern Virginia, she moved into the house her parents built while she was in college.

She taught several years at Roanoke's Stonewall Jackson Junior High School before moving to Fairfax to get her master's degree. She made frequent visits home, often telling her parents and other relatives what treasures they had in the Roanoke Valley.

"I told them they didn't realize what they had - art, ballet, the Roanoke Symphony, lectures at all the colleges, a whole ledger of culture - and of course, the wonderful mountains," Nelson said.

"My grandparents came here from Ireland and said they had found the most beautiful green spot on the East Coast. They said it reminded them of Ireland.

"I missed the mountains," she said, adding she would often tell her late parents, "You don't notice the mountains as much as when you've been away. They are gorgeous."

Windsor Gifts, in Southwest Plaza, is open from 10:30-5:30 weekdays and 10:30-3:30 on Saturdays or until the "last customer." The telephone number is 776-8616.