James "J.R." Nelsen

James R. Nelsen, 97 of Edmonds, passed away March 2, 2013. He was born June 12, 1915 to Frank and Bessie Nelsen on Roosevelt Way in Seattle and made the Pacific Northwest his home for life. He spent his younger years helping his father with his bowling alleys and pool halls and then worked on the family homestead that was settled by his grandfather in the Green River Valley. The family home still remains and is on the Washington Historical Register.

JR, as he liked to be called, graduated from Roosevelt High School, spent a summer in Alaska with his dad and then returned to work in the family business that was started by his grandfather in 1890, Hansen Bros. Transfer & Storage. He proudly served his country in World War II in the Army Air Corp in Europe and was crew chief on the P51 Mustangs. After the war he met his wife Gladys Johnston, they married on the 4th of July 1947 and had 2 sons, James A. and Larry A. Nelsen. JR was always a hard worker but also played hard, he had many projects at their home in Edmonds and then also at the family cabin on Port Gamble Bay which was an old dynamite shack, he spent many a day digging a well by hand. He worked at the company up until the time of his “retirement” in 1975 but continued to come in to the office everyday and managed to stay busy, working on special projects and driving the interoffice mail around to each office until he was 90, he hated to stop driving. JR was a world traveler, he took many trips over the past 30 years to all ports of call, he walked barefoot on the Great Barrier Reef and rode an elephant in Thailand. He is preceded in death by his beloved wife Gladys and his brother Robert. He is survived by his sons James A. Nelsen (Julie) of Edmonds and Larry A. Nelsen (Rhonda) of Seattle, also 3 grandchildren and 2 great grand children.

Services will be held on Sunday March 10, 2013 at 11:00 at Greenwood Memorial Park

350 Monroe Ave NE Renton WA 98056. Interment Mt. Olivet Cemetery. In lieu of flowers remembrances can be made to The Humane Society. Please visit the online guest book at www.greenwoodmempark.com