Elton G. Nelson, 96, a former Baker County resident who is listed in “American Men and Women of Science” for his work in fiber crops, died Aug. 25, 2006.
His memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27, at the Bethesda United Methodist Church in Bethesda, Md., where he had attended church for more than 50 years.
Elton was born at Elgin on Sept. 15, 1910, to Walter and Mary Chandler Nelson. The family lived on a stock ranch his parents homesteaded about 10 miles east of Durkee.
Elton attended a one-room grade school near his home in the mountains, except for two years of grade school. He attended Baker High School.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1937 and his master’s degree in 1946 at what is now Oregon State University in Corvallis. He earned his doctorate from the the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis in 1961.
He worked his way through college at many jobs, including driving truck, selling “Real Silk” hosiery and shipping point inspection of fruits and vegetables for the state of Oregon. When not away trying to earn money, he worked with his parents and brother on the farm.
In January 1937, five months before he received his bachelor’s degree he began his federal government career in research on fiber flax for the Agricultural Research Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was stationed at the college in Corvallis.
He continued the flax work until June 1948, when he went on a special eight-month assignment with the U.S. Department of State to study jute in India and Pakistan and was stationed in Calcutta. He returned to the Agricultural Research Administration of USDA, this time at Beltsville, Md.
At the time he left the fiber work in the USDA in 1960, he was head of the agronomic research on long vegetable fiber crops. He was recognized worldwide as an authority on these crops.
From 1960 to 1963 he was with what is now the Agency for International Development (AID) in Washington, serving first as agronomist and then as assistant to the science adviser for Latin America. From 1963 until his retirement in 1970, he was assistant director of a division in the Office of Textiles in the Department of Commerce.
His social fraternity was Sigma Phi Sigma, which did not survive and was taken over by Phi Kappa Psi, where he also became a member. His honor societies were Alpha Zeta and Scabbard and Blade. He is included in “American Men and Women of Science.” After his retirement, he was a consultant for the Cordage Institute for several years.
Starting in 1985, he was a regular volunteer with the Friends of the Kennedy Center at the J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He especially enjoyed his work there and continued until 2003.
He was married to Lucille Wilkins from 1937 until they divorced in 1943 (without bitterness). His two children are from that marriage.
He was married to Alice Fray Nelson from 1950 until her death in 1983. He always claimed to have had “the best divorce, the best marriage and the best offspring” of anyone he knew.
Survivors include a daughter, Nikki Smith, a son, Thomas A. Nelson, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, all living in the Sacramento, Calif.,-area, except one great-grandson, who lives in Washington.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at P.O. Box 101510, Arlington, Va. 22210.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, September 22, 2006
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor