Les Nelson

FITCHBURG--Les Nelson, died Sunday, September 18th at the age of 88. He was born in rural Chippewa County and attended primary and secondary public schools in Dunn County. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy a year after the onset of WWII, was trained as a weather observer and assigned to bases in the U.S. and the South Pacific. After the war he earned a degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin. He spent two years in public radio, at the University of Wisconsin and Indiana University, before entering print journalism for the electric cooperatives of Wisconsin and serving 34 years as reporter, columnist, photographer and editor for the Wisconsin R.E.C. News. Also for 15 years he was a columnist for Madison Magazine and its predecessor, Madison Select. He served one term on the Fitchburg City Council and a year on the Fitchburg Plan Commission. He is survived by his wife Jean, to whom he was married in December 1954; by two sons, Scott (Jackie Landers), Waukesha; Kirby (Marie Fritsch), Hartford; and a daughter, Holly (David Adams), Fitchburg. Two grandchildren, Kyle and Marra Mulvihill, live in Oregon with their father Michael. Their mother, the former Corie Nelson, died in 1995. A third grandchild, Benjamin, is the son of Holly and David Adams, and a fourth, Sarah, is their daughter. At the request of the deceased, who wrote this obituary, there will be no funeral or memorial service. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Wisconsin State Historical Society or to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.