WILLIAM ALDEN NELSON JR., 96, of Omaha, Nebraska passed away on Monday, April 6, 2009 at the Parsons House on Eagle Run in Omaha, Nebraska. 

Bill was born to William and Dagmar (Beckman) Nelson in Omaha, Nebraska on November 26, 1912. When Bill was 7 years old his father purchased the Ford dealership in Oakland, Nebraska.  He always said leaving Omaha for a rural small town with dirt streets, wooden sidewalks and horse hitching posts was a very vivid experience.  It didn’t take him and his sisters very long to make the adjustment.  He graduated from Oakland High School and attended the University of Nebraska for a time.

Bill was united in marriage to Doris Erickson in 1930.  At that time he started his lifetime career in marketing and sales.  His first experience was to sell Fuller Brushes door to door.  He then sold WearEver cooking utensils, making demonstrations in homes having the host couple invite their friends over for dinner.  These were vivid experiences for Bill during the drought and depression years of the 1930’s.  For nine years he worked for Paxton and Gallagher calling on clients in Northwestern Iowa and Northeastern Nebraska.  During World War II, he was a safety engineer at the Mead Bomb Loading Plant.  Following the war, he joined his father in the Ford Car and John Deere Implement business.  In 1963 he sold his business, a business that had been on the corner of Main Street in Oakland for 45 years.
Bill and Doris moved to Omaha and Bill worked as a manufacturer’s representative for 2 years with Bert Gurney & Associates.  In 1965 Bill joined the Kirkham-Michael Architect and Engineering firm.  Bill worked with Kirkham-Michael as a marketing manager until he was 89 years old.  He never did retire, he just slowed down.

Bill’s special interests were photography, golf, public relations and male quartet and group singing.  He had beautiful tenor voice.

He was President of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, on the board of directors of Oakland Memorial Hospital, Deacon, Choir director and Sunday School Superintendent at the First Baptist Church in Oakland.  He was also a District Director of the Nebraska New Car Dealers Association.  He was also past Big Chief of the Omaha Tribe of Yessirs, past president of the Scandinavian Noon-Day Club, and member of the Sales Leaders Club of Omaha.  Bill was also a very active member of the First Covenant Church in Omaha.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents; sisters: Vivian Dickson and Eloise Upham; granddaughter: Deborah Gilmore.

Survivors include his wife: Doris of Omaha;  sister: Elaine Chute of Oakland; daughter and son-in-law: Barbara and Jerry Wolpa of Omaha; son and daughter-in-law: William A. III and Phyllis Nelson of Overland Park, Kansas; 3 grandchildren: Suzanne Gilmore-Babb of Plano, Texas, David Nelson of Overland Park, Matthew Nelson of Olathe, Kansas; 5 great grand children.

FUNERAL SERVICE: Saturday, April 11, 2009, 2:00 p.m. at the Pelan Funeral Home in Oakland

VISITATION: Saturday at the funeral home one hour prior to the service

BURIAL: Oakland Cemetery

MEMORIAL SERVICE: Monday, April, 13, 2009, 11:00 a.m. at the First Covenant Church, at 90th & Dodge in Omaha.

MEMORIALS: Charities of your choice and American Cancer Society

Please feel free to send your condolences to the family.
Each condolence will be printed and given to the family after the service.

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