Canadian-American marriage and family therapist, and professor. She is the wife of Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Before Fame

She received an RN certification from the Calgary General Hospital School of Nursing in 1970. She earned a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1973 and a master's in marriage and family therapy at Brigham Young University in 1975.

Trivia

Her academic work in articles and in the book Beliefs: The Heart of Healing in Families and Illness helped develop a practical and theoretical framework for family systems nursing. The family systems approach focuses on the family as the "unit of care," where "the family's ability to change depends upon their ability to alter their perception of the problem."

Family Life

She was born Wendy Watson, and grew up in Raymond, Alberta. She is the second of three children born to Leonard and Laura McLean Watson. She married Nelson in the Salt Lake Temple in 2006 while he was a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Associated With

Other notable Mormons include Lucky Blue Smith and Julianne Hough.