Born in Irving, KS on Dec. 8, 1878. Nellie Gail spent her childhood in Nebraska and came to California with her family in 1893. Upon receiving her teaching credentials, she taught school in the state of Washington near Seattle at the turn of the century. On one of her summer trips to visit her family in southern California she met Lewis Moulton whom she married in 1908. The couple settled on a ranch of 22,000 acres. Most of her paintings appear to have been done in and around Laguna Beach at the turn of the century. The influence of her teachers, Anna Hills and Edgar Payne, is seen in her paintings. Best known as a philanthropist, the Moulton Gallery in Laguna Beach was named for her as was the Laguna-Moulton Playhouse. Mrs. Moulton was also a founding member of Laguna's School of Art and Design before her death on Aug. 23, 1972. Member: Women Painters of the West; Laguna Beach AA (pres. 1948). Exh: Festival of Arts, 1939 (Laguna); Laguna Beach Art Gallery, 1968 (retrospective).