Obituary of Leslie Nelson

Leslie “Les” Nelson died on Tuesday February 2, 2010 at Brighton Gardens Nursing home, Denver, Colorado. He was the widower of Esther Jane Nelson (Hasselman), who preceded him in death by 7 years. He was born in Muskegon, Michigan on July 25th 1919 and was a Christian Believer since his youth. His parents were Aner Christian Nelson and Catherine “Kittie” Nelson. He was raised on a farm and enjoyed rural life with his many siblings. He married his sweetheart, Esther Jane Hassleman, on September 26, 1940. Les became an excellent machinist while working at Norge before the war and as a result, he served as a machinist mate in the Navy from August 1944 to April of 1946 when he was honorably discharged. His ship was badly damaged in December of 1944 when a suicide diver attacked his ship, the USS Hughes, during the support of the Ormac Bay landings. He was not injured, but they lost about 1/3 of the crew. After repairing his ship, his naval action took him from the Aleutian Islands off of Alaska to the islands of Hawaii during the course of the rest of war. After the war he went back to work for Norge Machine Products in Muskegon and eventually got a management position with Kaydon Corp. in Muskegon. Later he moved to Rockford, Illinois with Borg Warner, then on to California to work for Industrial Tectonics. From there he went back to Kaydon for a year, and then moved back to California to work for Transport Dynamics (Lear Siegler), a manufacturer of bearings. In 1986 he was promoted to VP and General Manager of Transport Dynamics Corp, a Division of Lear Siegler. He retired at age 73 from the resultant merged company that was called BFM Transport Dynamics as VP of Operations. Les’s favorite past time was golf, which he played with a group of his buddies (many were from his business) in California for about 30 years. He actually played golf in Colorado until about 2 1/2 years ago when he decided to put up his clubs for good. He also enjoyed playing bridge with his wife Esther, neighbors, and family members. Les was a Christian all of his life starting at a young age and attended churches such as: Little Black Lake Baptist Church in Fruitport, Michigan, Central Reformed Church in Muskegon, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rockford, Illinois, Rolling Hills Covenant Church in Rolling Hills, California, Crown Valley Covenant Church in Laguna, California and St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California. Les moved to Colorado in 2007 to be close to his family and attended Cherry Hills Community Church with his son and daughter-in-law until his stroke last fall. He believed that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world and hoped everyone he knew would also believe, so they could join him in Heaven some day. He had 6 brothers and one sister. He is survived by two brothers: Walt and Don Nelson in the Muskegon Michigan area. The surviving children are a son Bruce and wife Judy Nelson and two daughters, Roni and husband Ken Adams and Nancy and husband Phil Powers. Also surviving are 11 grand children, 19 great grand children and 1 great great grand child. The memorial service in Colorado will be at Fort Logan National Cemetery, Area A at 3:00 PM on Thursday the 18th of February, 2010, with a reception at Crossroads Church of Denver (Colorado) to follow. Les will be buried with his wife Esther at Harbor Lawn-Mount Olive Cemetery (Cyprus Gardens portion) in Costa Mesa, California. A separate Memorial Service will be held at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California at 2:00 PM on Thursday the 25th of February 2010, with a reception to follow. No flowers please! If you wish to give a gift, please donate to the National Alzheimer Association or a charity of your choice on Les’s behalf.