John Arthur Nelson

1940 - 2020

JOHN A. NELSON

Longtime Soldotna resident John Arthur Nelson passed away peacefully on April 6, 2020, at home with his family by his side. A man of faith, principle, and boundless creativity, he was 79.

A descendant of Swedish immigrants, John was born to Wilbur and Isabelle Nelson on Sept. 13, 1940, in the Detroit suburb of Highland Park, Michigan, the oldest of Wilbur and Isabelle's two boys. John spent his youth hunting and fishing the wild north woods and was particularly fond of visiting family "up North" in places like Traverse City, Charlevoix, and especially Carp Lake south of Mackinaw City, where he caught his first fish on a fly rod-a large bluegill.

After graduating from high school, John studied at Michigan Tech before leaving school and eventually made his way to Alaska in the early 1960s, where he worked for a service station in Portage, just off the Seward Highway near the Whittier cutoff. Across the road was another service station along with a cafe run by the Upchurch family. It was there that John met Nancy Nell, and they were married in June 1963.

John and Nancy moved to Traverse City, Michigan, soon after, and in 1967 their first child, Wilbur, was born, followed by Belle in 1970.

They returned to Alaska in 1971, this time settling in Talkeetna, where John built a cabin and outbuildings on property off the Talkeetna Spur Highway. They served as caretakers for Stephan Lake Lodge, and John worked for guide Nick Botner. John often said the 1970s in Talkeetna were special, where time spent at the Fairview Inn usually meant seeing local legends like glacier pilot Don Sheldon, mountaineer Ray Genet, or artist James Gleason.

From Alaska, they moved back to Michigan, this time settling in Chatham, where they were part of the "back to the earth" movement, raising goats and pigs and living on what they grew.

After moving to be near Nancy's family in Texas in 1980, they settled in Detroit, a small town outside Paris in the northeast corner of the state near the Oklahoma border. There John began to make his mark as a master wood craftsman, folk artist, and decoy carver. His decoys have been featured in national art galleries, and his folk art carvings are a prized possession in many households today. He was accomplished on the guitar and hammer dulcimer.

He was the deputy mayor for Detroit, and also served as a hospice chaplain. He enjoyed hunting and fishing farm ponds in the area with his black Lab, Gus, as well as flyfishing canoe trips to Beavers Bend State Park in Oklahoma.

John and Nancy returned to Alaska for good in 1996 and settled on five acres east of Soldotna, where John turned a detached garage into a workshop and continued to create wildlife and other folk carvings that found their way to galleries across the state. When not in the shop, John was usually on the river, fly rod or baitcaster in hand, always ready for the tug of a wild Alaska salmon, rainbow trout, or bruiser Dolly Varden.

He served on the board of Heritage Place in Soldotna, where he often played music and read for the residents, and also was a member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries advisory council for the Kenai/Soldotna area.

In retirement, John continued to be a voracious reader and also turned to sketching, where his creative gifts once again were on display in the remarkable portraits and landscapes he produced, primarily with colored pencil.

He was preceded in death by his father, Wilbur; mother, Isabelle; brother, Raymond Nelson; and grandson, Otto Nelson.

Survivors include his wife, Nancy Nelson; son, Wilbur Nelson, daughter-in-law Sheryl Nelson, and grandson Robert Nelson, of Soldotna; granddaughter, Nancy Klingel, of Kenai; granddaughter, Gwen Nelson, of Fairbanks; daughter Belle Merritt, son-in-law Steven, and grandsons Thomas, John, and Arthur Merritt, of Palmer.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to Heritage Place. Donations can be mailed to Heritage Place, 232 W. Rockwell, Soldotna, AK 99669, with a message or note in the memo line for Activities in memory of John Nelson.