Tay Apollo Nelson passed away unexpectedly, at 28 years of age, on September 17th, 2022 after a long battle with mental illness.

Tay was born February 4th 1994 to Janelle Nelson and Josh Collette in Grand Forks, ND. They attended Adams Public School and later moved to Grand Forks ND to attend Central High School. It is during those years they met and started dating their lifetime partner, Emily Liepold. Tay excelled in high school maintaining a 4.0 GPA and started a photography business, "Morning Dawn Photography", the summer of 2010. After graduating from Central High School with honors, Tay went on to study sociology at the Universities of North Dakota and Minnesota before finally graduating with a bachelors in sociology from Arizona State University.

Tay and Emily moved to Berkeley CA in the summer of 2017 where Tay worked as a Shift Supervisor for Starbucks. Tay briefly worked as a case manager with San Francisco, helping unsheltered people find permanent housing. For the past year, Tay managed a small café and bakery in Berkeley and aspired to start a café of their own. Tay and Emily were united in marriage on July 13th, 2021. They had two fur babies, Felix and Maude. In recent years, Tay had found peace and solace in meditation, Buddhism, community-building, cuddling with their kittens, and their lifelong passion of photography.

Tay is survived by their partner Emily Liepold, mother Janelle Nelson, aunty mommy Tara Munoz, step-mother Katie Collette, siblings Becca LaVoi and Cinn Veris, and grandparents Clif (Patty) Nelson. They are also survived by in-laws Loren and Lynn Liepold, brother-in-law Mark (Patty) Liepold, sister-in-law Bonnie (Brandon) Friese, special cousins Jesse White and Ryan Walker, and cats Felix and Maude.

Tay was preceded in death by their father Josh Collette, sister Elizabeth Nelson, grandmother Brenda Nelson, and grandmother-in-law Carol Jensen.

**In lieu of flowers, we are asking for donations to Tay’s memorial fund which will be used to cover memorial costs and all remaining funds will be donated to a charity in memory of Tay. 

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