Carib Miles Nelson

Carib Miles NELSON An important member of the planet is gone. Our beloved Carib died December 15, 2007, four days short of his 51st birthday after a brief but valiant fight against cancer. How we will miss this gentle, kind, decent man, who loved his family, his friends, his work, nature, and the world. Carib grew up in Bellevue, and graduated from Bellevue High. While in high school he built his own sailboat and a harpsichord. He received Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Stanford University. A creative and talented product designer, he invented and received a patent for a prosthetic hand. After volunteer development work and teaching in Indonesia, Carib returned with his wife, Sarah, to begin an 18 year long career at PATH. At PATH, Carib helped to design a pre-filled, non-reusable syringe, worked on safe injection techniques, medical waste disposable, and appropriate health technology in use throughout the developing world. He saved many lives and was able to indulge his life-long love of travel. In the course of his life he traveled to every continent except for Antarctica, often going to the remotest village to teach local health care workers how to immunize babies against disease. That adventurous spirit also inspired many wonderful family trips, including a special father/daughter trip when each of his daughters became teenagers. Carib was an outdoorsman and environmentalist who biked and/or kayaked to work from the Eastside to Seattle in rain or shine. He once cross-country skied to work after a snowstorm. Most of all, Carib was a man of integrity, intelligence, and compassion who touched many people's lives all over the world. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, Sarah; his daughters, Katie and Hadley; his father, Miles (Sondra); sisters, Karen and Maurine (Ed); brother, Marty; sister-in-law, Betsy (Mike); as well as many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his mother, Tena. A celebration of his life will be held at the Great Hall at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina, WA, on December 18 at 3:00 p.m. The family wishes to thank the Group Health Hospice program, especially hospice nurse, Kim Motais, and home infusion therapy coordinator, Deary Panek, for their wonderful care of Carib.