David Owen Nelson

David Owen Nelson was born May 14, 1949 to Georgia Bolton Nelson and James Conrad Nelson of Oklahoma Lane, Texas. He passed August 31, 2022 and is survived by his brother Dennis Nelson of Spearman, Tx; his daughter Amy Nelson of Round Rock, Tx; his daughter Anna Nelson, of Rchardson, Tx; his son Stephen Nelson of Yukon, Ok; and his son Andrew Nelson of Ithaca, NY.

David liked to tell stories and jokes. He grew up on a farm in the Panhandle of Texas and spoke of getting up in the dark before school to help his dad milk and feed the cows. He raised animals for FFA to earn money for clothes and shoes.

David played multiple team sports but his favorite was running track. He competed for Lazbuddie High School in the mile and mile relay races. In his freshman year of high school, he qualified for the regional finals despite losing a shoe and running the majority of the race with just a sock on his left foot. He came back the next day and ran the regional race with his sore foot. As a senior, he won a Texas Interscholastic League Class B mile on his 4th try with a time of 4:27.4. David graduated from Lazbuddie High School in 1967. David continued to pursue track in college when he started at Texas Tech University in the fall of 1967. David won the mile in a meet in 1968 when Texas Tech competed against Texas Christian University and the University of Texas at Arlington.

David liked to joke that he got in the “wrong line” when he registered for classes at Tech and that is how he ended up in the Agricultural Engineering program instead of the Agricultural Sciences program. He met Sylvia Donaldson in 1969 and they married on December 20, 1970.

David and Sylvia settled on a farm outside of Lazbuddie, Tx. Daughter Amy was born in December of 1971 and daughter Anna followed in December of 1973. David loved to tease his daughters, calling them Amos and Andy. In 1977, son Stephen was born in September and David was so pleased to have his first son. In 1979, David received his diploma from Texas Tech. With a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering, he joined Halliburton and started his world tour. Andrew was born in January of 1983, and Anna could no longer be called “Andy”. David was so pleased to add to the family. David and his family lived on multiple continents over the next 30 years. He enjoyed telling anyone he met about his many adventures and the people he met.

Plans for a memorial service are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family requests, if you feel called, to donate to the Whitacre College of Engineering scholarship funds at Texas Tech University in memory of David O. Nelson.