God Bless Donny Nelson

Last week Don Nelson phoned our house and invited us to a big family reunion get together. My wife comes from the Bakers in Coulson and Ivy and somewhere we are all connected. I know my father helped Don in the early days of farming when we were on the 5th of Flos.
Don and I spoke a couple of weeks ago about the concerns he had with our council and the mayor. He even said that if no one stands, he will run as mayor in 2010 and I would have supported him. It would be nice to have the intelligence, honesty and common sense of a farmer running our mainly rural township.
To our shock, this morning (Monday Aug 10) my mother in law Nina Baker who resides with us got a call from her brother in law Johnny Baker saying that he had been at the reunion and Donny died of a massive heart attack at the event. In the spirit and wishes of Don the reunion continued even though in more sober atmosphere.
Don is one of those true spirits of determination and perseverance. Even though plagued with health issues his entire life, he made the best of it and was thankful for all he had. The last time I saw him was on A-Channel in his wheel chair breathing through his oxygen tube. Nothing kept the man down. He stated on the news clip that he was willing to go to jail and do whatever was necessary to stop the insanity of Site 41.
In closing our prayers go to his family and friends. I am greatly saddened because of another family commitment I did not have the opportunity of seeing Don for one last time on the weekend.
God Bless you Donny