John J. Nelson, 86, of Westport Island, passed away on Oct. 28 with his wife of 63 years, (Mary-) Ruth Nelson by his side.
He was born in Harrisburg, Penn. on April 25, 1928. Like many other young men during WWII, after he graduated from high school in Leonardo, N.J., he enlisted in the Navy on June 14, 1945 in what was then known as the V-5 program, designed to identify intelligent young men to be trained as Navy Air Force officers. He attended both Union College and Hobart College as a V-5 cadet. However, the rules for the V-5 program changed and John decided to become part of the Naval Reserve. After Great Lakes training he was sent to California, and because he was a fast and accurate typist, he spent the rest of his Navy career tracking the Naval Mine Craft fleet. He was honorably discharged on Aug. 13, 1946 and enrolled in the College of Agriculture at Rutgers University.
He met Ruth in 1949 when she was a freshman at New Jersey College for Women, part of Rutgers University. After he had spent a year in the Agriculture program, John changed his major to biology and entered the School of Education. John loved teaching and was very good at encouraging his students to work hard and to be successful.
Later as a father he taught his own children to dream big and to develop a good work ethic to achieve success. One of the family activities was known as the “Work Party” when everyone had a task to do before going off to play on weekends. Often their friends would come and help. With two adults and seven children, John’s dreams were accomplished at the house in Piscataway, N.J. The virtues of a good work ethic and goal setting appear today in his grandchildren.
As John was pursuing an advanced degree, he learned of a biology/ecology program at Bowdoin College in Brunswick and was selected to participate. He fell in love with Maine and set a goal to purchase real estate here as soon as possible. Of course, on a teacher’s salary and as the father of seven children, this was a big dream.
Most of the work at Bowdoin was done on Fox Island, now part of the state park at Popham Beach. Wood Island was nearby and John decided to investigate the ownership of the island. He wrote to the owner and outlined his scientific interests in the island and asked if it could be for sale. John was a big dreamer. However, he heard nothing in response. The following year he spent a weekend travelling the midcoast searching for a piece of Maine to purchase. He found three properties and asked Ruth to help him decide. A small Westport Island camp on the water with no road access, electricity, or water was chosen. John asked the owner to sell him some additional land and in March of 1968 the camp was his.
About a month later, on John’s birthday, the owner of Wood Island called to ask if John still wanted to buy the island. John explained that he had just bought property in Maine. The owner said that he did not want much for the island – only what he had paid for it and the taxes paid. This was too tempting and John was at the owner’s house the next day with a sales agreement. Good things happen when you dream BIG! From then on Maine became the center of his family’s lives and they spent as much time in Maine as possible. John set a good example for his children and they learned the value of dreaming big in the hope of making good things happen.
John always loved gardens and animals. His first family dog was a St. Bernard named Schultz. When Schultz died, he was succeeded by a pair of Bernese Mountain dogs. A few months later another St. Bernard puppy named Thor joined the family. John always had a cat, and sometimes more than one cat lived in the Nelson house. At one time there were also two parrots, an aquarium with fish large enough to eat worms, gerbils, and a fluffy guinea pig. This last group were some of his children’s pets. In later years John and Ruth adopted older or damaged cats from the local shelter and gave them good lives for the years they had left.
In 1995, he had a house built south of the camp that he had expanded to become a small house, including an indoor flush! He bought a large tractor so he could move rocks and soil and he planned and built gardens everywhere. He loved unusual trees and planted them where he could enjoy them. One of his last efforts was to plan a small section of the Wright Landing gardens that he and Ruth planted. He also enjoyed working on the Wright Landing committee to assist in the planning and implementation of Westport’s launch site.
John is survived by his wife, Ruth; children and their spouses, son, Eric and wife Ann of Honeoye Falls, near Rochester, N.Y., Bruce and wife Sherre of Manaus, Brazil, Caryl Nelson-Fitzpatrick and husband Dennis of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, John and wife Lynn of Arlington, Va., Robert and wife Jean Fujisaki of La Jolla, Cal., Rolf and wife Meg Brennan of Acton, Mass., and Susan Nelson and husband Steven Durlauf of Madison, Wis.; and 17 grandchildren living in England, Brazil, Canada, and in five U.S. states and the District of Columbia. He was so proud of his beautiful, large family. He is also survived by his sister Mary of Red Bank, N.J.
At this time no service is planned. His wish was to be cremated and a memorial service held in the late spring at the Historic Church next to the old Town Hall on Westport.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Westport Volunteer Fire Department, 644 Main Rd., Westport Island, ME 04578; or A Paw in the Door (a cat rescue organization), 16 Winter St., Bath ME 04530.
Condolences, and messages for the family, may be expressed by visiting www.StrongHancock.com.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.
