Walter Nelson

Walter Nelson, age 90 of West Union, IA, formerly of Decorah, died on Thursday, December 21, 2017 at the Good Samaritan Society in West Union where he resided for the last seven years. A memorial service will be held at the Canoe Ridge Lutheran Church on Friday, February 9, 2018 at 2 pm with Pastor Stacy Nalean-Carlson officiating. The burial will be at Burr Oak Cemetery in the spring. Walter Floyd Nelson was born in Clayton County to Arthur and Emma (Blum) Bahls on September 21, 1927. After the divorce of Art and Emma in 1937, Walt and his siblings were relocated to the Lutheran Welfare Home in Des Moines, IA later to be separated into foster homes. After some time in various foster homes, Fritz and Ruth Koenig of Burr Oak became Walter’s foster parents. Walter stayed in the Burr Oak area for a good share of his life. It was there that he became a favorite mechanic and welder in Burr Oak community. Walter had a mechanical gift and inventive mind. He made a helicopter, tractors, end loaders and several boats. If one came to him with idea or mechanical problem, he could usually fix it. He had been known to overhaul motors on the kitchen floor or on a desk in a small apartment. He was always fixing or inventing something. Walt had a acreage at Davis Corners (Cresco area), he lived in Hokah, MN. and later in Decorah, IA until he became a resident at Good Samaritan. He worked as a trucker for several years and he spent winters in Alabama in later years. While there, he built a shrimp boat and was a shrimper in the gulf. One of his favorite hobbies was stock car racing. He raced car #70 at the Cresco Speedway and other speedways in the area. Walter never married, but he had been reunited with his brother, Richard Nelson, shortly after their separation from the Welfare Home. He was not reunited with his other four siblings until 1982. Walt is survived by is sister, Martha Swenson, Clifton, TX, and his brother, William Johnson, Sioux Falls, SD, and sister-in-law, Carole Knutson and brother-in-law, Eugene Wilde, Osage, IA. Nieces Susan (Don) Nelson, and Janeen Nelson, nephews Roger (Janine) Nelson and Raymond Nelson all of Decorah. There are several other nieces and nephews in Iowa, Texas, Alabama and South Dakota. Walter is preceded in death by his parents, foster parents, one sister Esther Wilde, Osage, IA, two brothers, Paul Knutson, Mobile, AL and Richard Nelson (January, 2017) and sister-in-law Geneva Nelson, Decorah, IA.