- Date Of Birth: May 13, 1917
- Date Of Death: October 24, 2010
- State: Colorado
Englewood, CO – William S. Nelson, formerly of Columbus, NE died Sunday, October 24, 2010 at the Meridian Retirement Community, his home for the last 8 years.
Bill was born May 13, 1917 in Sioux City, Iowa. He attended Wayne State College and graduated with a Bachelors of Science. He served both the US Army and the US Navy during WW II, earning the rank of Navy LTJG. He married Alice Mae Young of Wayne, Nebraska on June 28 1941. After his discharge he became an agent for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance in Wayne. In 1949 he became District Agent in Columbus, Nebraska, where he and his family lived until 1991. Upon his retirement, he and Alice Mae moved to Arizona where they lived until her death in 2003.
He was active in many community activities including Columbus Chamber of Commerce in which he served as President, Lions Club, Elks Club, and American Red Cross. He believed that every child should have the opportunity to learn to swim and so managed the Red Cross Swimming Lesson program for many years. He was also chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Education Committee which was instrumental in establishing Platte College. He was appointed president of the Platte College Foundation and filled that office for six years. He also served on the board of the Friends of Music. His family hosted the Columbus High School AFS foreign exchange student, Pirkko Tammivouri, from Jyvaskyla, Finland during the 1963-64 school year.
He is preceded in death by his parents and his wife, Alice Mae. He is survived by his children, John Nelson (Kay), of Denver, CO and Jean Meier (Roger) of Bloomington, MN. He is also survived by four grandchildren; Scott Nelson (Ann), Sue Mickus (Lee), Greg Meier (Katja), Rachel Nelson (Robert) and five great grandchildren; Jena and Garrett Nelson, Alex and Sophia Mickus and Noah Meier.
