Richard Paul "Richie" Nelson

Richard (Richie) Paul Nelson lived his life just for today. He was born on April 13th, 1993 in Atlanta, Georgia. Richie passed away on February 9th, 2019 in Jacksonville, Florida. Richie Nelson was accepted into the Magnet program during third grade, and continued in the magnet program until he graduated from Chamblee Charter High School. He graduated in May of 2011, and during his senior year he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Throughout his academic career he learned the German language, and even earned exemplary marks on the Deutsches Sprachdiplom 2. He enjoyed playing chess all through his academic career, and participated in the chess club, being on the team that won 1st Place in the state while in middle school. He was a member of the Dekalb Youth Symphony, and was very active in other extracurricular activities. He was on the cross country team, swim team, as well as even earning the rank of 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and made it to purple belt in HapKiDo. He was accepted and attended Georgia Tech and was truly a Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech. After graduation he went on to receive a job from Johnson and Johnson Vision, and moved to Jacksonville in 2017 for his job. He worked at Johnson and Johnson Vision as an engineer and lab technician, and truly loved the work he was doing. Richie never had a bad thing to say about anyone he met, and always looked for the best qualities in people. He inspired many of the younger scouts in his Boy Scout Troop, and many scouts have said Richie helped them to have a passion for scouting. As a family we enjoyed, watched, and shared Richie growing and achieving his hopes and dreams. There are still so many hopes and dreams that we won’t be able to see together. Richie did not really have time to realize what his dreams would be for his future, because he was just beginning his new journey. He would want all of us to take the things that we learned from him during his time among us, and pay it forward to others as he would have done. Richie Nelson is survived by his mother and father Rick and Rita Nelson, his brother Ryan Nelson, his grandmother Aranka Makovich, his uncle Paul Makovich, his cousin Zachary Makovich, his aunt Rosemary Makovich, and his girlfriend Sara Stockman. Even though we are all saddened and mourning the loss of Richie Nelson, if he was able to speak to us he would say his classic line “IT’S ALL GOOD!” There will be a memorial for Richie at the Nelson’s house on February 24th, 2019 at 2:00pm. If you would like to join us please let us know no later than Thursday February 21, 2019.