Theodore "Ted" Parker Nelson

Coeur d’Alene lost one of its most colorful, talented and entertaining residents when Ted Nelson passed away on August 28th at age 91. Always one to give more than he took, he volunteered with cancer patients at Kootenai Medical Center, helped out at the Hospice Thrift Store, mentored disadvantaged teens, organized square dance competitions throughout North Idaho and helped his neighbors in need. Ted moved to Coeur d’Alene 30 years ago after retiring from 25 years of teaching elementary school children in Alaska and California. He was happy to call Idaho home.

Theodore “Ted” Nelson was born and raised on a farm in New England, North Dakota. He joked that he was responsible for The Great Depression since the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 happened during his birth year. One of five children born to Minnie Parker Nelson and Nels Theodore “Ted” Nelson, he was the youngest and only boy. This meant he was the one working the fields with his father, learning how to till, plow, plant and harvest.

Like so many other families post Dust Bowl Era, the Nelsons abandoned the family farm and moved to Fullerton, California in 1947. His parents purchased an idyllic country home on a dirt road where they started a rabbit farm, hoping to build a better life. Ted chose instead to enlist in the Navy at age 18, where he toured the Pacific serving as an aviation electrician on an aircraft carrier. Although re-enlisting after 4 years, the sudden death of his father in 1951 resulted in Ted’s emergency honorable discharge to return home to help his mother with the rabbit farm.

Ted attended Fullerton Junior College where he met his wife Victoria. Drawing upon his Navy experience, Ted worked for several aircraft corporations before going to work as a driver for Hiett Brothers Feed, still in business today, while Victoria finished her RN degree and together they started a family.

Ted always wanted to return to farming and in keeping with that dream, he attended Cal Poly Pomona and received his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Business Management. Shortly after graduation in 1960, Ted and Victoria sold their home in Orange, loaded up the station wagon with their 3 children and all their worldly possessions and set off on a 3,000 mile trip to Fairbanks, Alaska. As a young couple in pre-pipeline Alaska, this was a life-changing adventure. Ted got his teaching credential and began teaching elementary school. Over the next 6 years, they embraced the Alaskan lifestyle. They made life-long friendships, dined on moose and ptarmigan, picked berries, watched dogsled races, the northern lights, experienced extreme cold, long days of summer and the long nights of winter.

The family moved back to southern California in 1966 so Ted could attend Chapman College for his master’s degree in counseling, settling first in Tustin and then on Balboa Island. Ted taught at Lowell Elementary in Santa Ana for 20 years and worked as a costumed security guard at Disneyland during the summers. A big Nelson family adventure came in the summer of 1970 when they toured all over Europe in a VW van. Ten weeks, ten thousand miles and 19 countries. Europe on $5/day was checked off the bucket list.

While living on Balboa Island, Ted took up stained glass window making and opened up shop on Agate Avenue as The Windowmaker. Many homes on Balboa Island still display Ted’s stained glass windows. It was also at this time that the real estate market on the island enabled Ted and Victoria to complete enough fix and flip’s on the Island to buy a comfortable home in Costa Mesa in 1981…but it took a toll on their marriage and they divorced in 1983.

A new chapter in Ted’s life began years later when he met Judy Gershwin in 1986, whom he married in 1990. Ted and Judy discovered the California Early Days Gas Engine and Tractor Association in Vista, home to the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum. Ted was instantly transported back to his youth with all the tractors, blacksmith equipment, sawmill and one room schoolhouse. Most important were the like-minded farmers and square dancers they discovered there. Ted and Judy became officers on the board, with Ted serving as President in 1990.

Realizing that they would be happier in a more rural area, Ted and Judy moved to Coeur d’Alene in Northern Idaho in 1991. While living there, they became very involved in 7 different North Idaho square dance clubs, held leadership positions and for a few years operated a square dance supply retail business in Coeur d’Alene.

Ted could repair anything – from toasters and washers to refrigerators and lawnmowers. He was an avid woodworker, leather craftsman, banjo picker, clock maker and stained-glass artisan. But his favorite pastime was restoration of his beloved antique tractors which he collected while living his back-to-the-farm dream on a small acreage in Dalton Gardens from 1993 – 2005. Like they say, you can take the boy out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy!

With hardy Norwegian genes - or maybe it was the lutefisk and lefse - Ted lived life on his own terms. He loved square dancing, baseball - especially the Mariners – and telling jokes. He shrugged off being preceded in death by part of his colon, a section of his liver, most of his heart’s left ventricle and a large percentage of his lungs’ capacity with quick witted humor that endeared him to his family, caregivers and total strangers.

Ted’s parents and his four sisters, Shirley, Abbe, Mary Jane and Bette preceded him in death, leaving him the “last man standing” until now. He is survived by his three children Diane Nelson Spickert (Charlie), Laura Nelson Kasperowicz (Mark), Wayde Torrey Nelson, seven grandchildren Cameron Nelson Spickert (Roxanne), Andrew Reno Spickert (Maggie), Jase Kasperowicz, Neil Kasperowicz, Dylan Kasperowicz, Brandon Oscarson (Sheila), and Heather Nelson Ackerman (Justin), 5 nephews and one niece - Curtis & Roger Wicklund and Scott, Whitney, Eric and Amy Werner as well as his devoted dachshund Charlie Brown.

Though Ted was married and divorced twice, he remained friends with both women for the rest of his life. First wife of 30 years, Victoria, was there to help him this past year and stayed at his bedside in his final hours. Ted was married to Judy Gershwin Nelson for 15 years during the square dancing and farming days in Coeur d’Alene.

Now free of his earthly body, Ted will be the one in heaven stopping to change a flat tire for a stranded motorist, mowing his neighbor’s lawn for free and sharing his meal with a homeless person.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in the name of Theodore Parker Nelson to Orchard Ridge Senior Living, 624 W. Harrison Ave, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814 or Hospice of North Idaho, 2290 W. Prairie Ave, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83815.