Richard "Dick" Nelson

Richard "Dick" Nelson died on January 13 2025 at 2pm central in Nashville, Tennessee. The cause was complications following cancer surgery. He was 84.
Born November 3, 1940, Dick grew up in Martinsville, Indiana. He played high school football and was named to the Indiana All-South Central Conference team as a fullback. He also excelled on the golf team.
Dick attended Hanover College in Madison, Indiana. During summer breaks, he began his association with Diebold, Inc. by working with service crews in central Indiana where his father, Carl Nelson, was a service manager.
Upon graduation with a Bachelor's in Business, he moved to Canton, Ohio and thus began a 40+ year sales career with Diebold. He and his wife, Zada, next settled in Baltimore, Maryland. But it was in Virginia where they raised their sons, first in Roanoke and then Richmond. He retired in 2005, but tragically lost Zada to cancer two years later. In 2014, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he married the former Glenda Gandy, who died in 2020.
Besides his family, Dick's passions were fishing, golf and Barbershop music. The family enjoyed vacations in Cape Hatteras and at their cabin on Smith Mountain Lake. Over 3 decades, he and long-time Diebold colleagues gathered for annual golf and fishing trips at his cabin and other locales around the southeast.
Dick had an immense love for His Lord and savior Jesus the Christ and enjoyed writing songs of praise to Him and gladly shared them with family and his fellow resident at the Village's of Murfreesboro. He also gave his time and efforts to help educate people about Parkinson's disease which he lived with for the last 20 years.
Dick is preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Violet Nelson, wives Zada and Glenda, and sister Pamela. He is survived by his two sons, Eric of Richmond, Virginia and Brian of St. John's, Florida, brother David of Pensacola, Florida, and five grandchildren.