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Nationals reliever Drew Storen's grandmother, Ruth Joan Nelson, died on Friday after suffering a heart attack last Sunday. She was 87.
Storen will fly home to Indianapolis with his father on Sunday, attend the funeral Monday and rejoin the Nationals in Anaheim on Tuesday for the final two games of their series with the Los Angeles Angels.
When he returns to the team, he'll be pitching for the first time without his grandmother keeping tabs on how he was doing.
Nelson was an avid sports fan - her and her husband, Dean Nelson, would split up the newspaper in the morning, and Ruth would claim the sports section first. According to her daughter, Pam Storen, she could rattle off point spreads and statistics for every game, and she got to see her grandson become a first-round draft pick in 2009 and an All-Star candidate this year.
A 1944 graduate of Purdue University, Nelson was married for 63 years to her husband, a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and is still living in Indiana. Services will be held Monday at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Noblesville, Ind.
If you're interested in sending a memorial, Pam Storen said the family requests donations to St. Michael's Episcopal Church (444 S. Harbour Drive, Noblesville, IN 46062) in lieu of flowers.
