A Family Forever : Memorial: Friends praise Harriet Nelson, a mom for all seasons.

Harriet Nelson, television’s model sitcom mom, was remembered by family members and friends Thursday as the perfect real-life mother too.

About 200 attended a private memorial service for Mrs. Nelson, who was 85 when she died Sunday at her Laguna Beach home of congestive heart failure.

Officials of Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills said her cremated remains will be interred on a hillside next to her husband, Ozzie, who died of cancer in 1975, and son Rick, killed in a 1985 plane crash.

“She wanted to be laid to rest with my father and my brother,” said surviving son David Nelson, who was holding her hand when she died. “I know she’s happy with dad.”

To a generation of television viewers, Harriet Nelson was America’s favorite housewife. From 1952 to 1966 she and her real-life family starred in “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.”

Viewers watched sons Rick and David grow up on the show. On the series, Harriet Nelson was the forbearing spouse who never argued but always managed to prove her stubborn husband wrong.

Her friends remembered her for maintaining the same good-hearted nature off-camera too.

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“You could always tell where she was on the set. There was always laughter coming from there,” recalled actor Parley Baer, who for seven years portrayed Darby on the show.

Said Joe Sutton, a family friend since 1947: “She was the sweetest lady, next to my mom, I ever met.

“What they were on television was what they were--just a nice, warm family.”

Mrs. Nelson had lived in Laguna Beach full time since 1977, two years after Ozzie’s death. The couple had built the house in 1955 in the private community of Lagunita as a weekend retreat.

Recordings of Ozzie Nelson’s dance band music were played as mourners packed the 150-seat Church of the Hills. Several 1930s-era tunes sung by Harriet Nelson after she joined the band were played as the service ended.

The Iowa-born Mrs. Nelson was eulogized as an embodiment of the “great strengths of the Midwest” and a symbol of “a simpler, gentler, kinder time in America” during the 1 1/2-hour service.

Twin grandsons Gunnar and Matthew of the rock group Nelson performed an unreleased song called “Love Me Today--Tomorrow I’ll Be Gone.” Gunnar Nelson said it was written after the death their father, Rick.

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David Nelson drew laughter when he told the crowd that his mother had told him, “Whatever you do, don’t have a memorial service” for her. “So I’m in a lot of trouble,” he said.

He said he is certain his parents and brother have been reunited in heaven.

“Knowing my father, I know something’s going on” up there with the trio, he added. “I just wonder who’s playing David.”

Others speakers included granddaughter Tracy Nelson, who has had a successful television acting career, and actress and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley.

The service was played on a public address system outside the church for reporters.

Friends said Harriet Nelson also suffered from emphysema. She had been hospitalized for several weeks, but was taken home at her own request last Friday.