PERRY, Box Elder County — A Vietnam veteran who died Sunday is being remembered for his incredible legacy of service.
Norm Nelson, 84, died at his home in Perry.
“This one is going to be hard, extremely hard,” an emotional Len Nelson, Norm Nelson’s son, told KSL-TV. “Our father had time for everybody.”
Another of Norm Nelson’s sons, Jerry Nelson, said his father was someone who taught him multiple life lessons.
“He is going to leave a legacy of family, friends, and community, and everyone gets to participate. Everyone gets to belong,” Jerry Nelson said, adding that people would recognize their father everywhere they went, in and outside of Utah.
“He worked with governors, he worked with senators, he worked with representatives, the military, the Golden Spike Association,” Jerry Nelson said. “In one year alone, he handed out 168 Eagle Scout awards. For Perry city, for like 10 to 15 years, he announced all the softball games.”
Jerry Nelson also said his father conducted hundreds of military funerals as an honor guard member.
The night before Norm Nelson died, he was at a family event.
“He got to play with his grandkids, and he was having the time of his life, and he was just happy,” Len Nelson said.
The next morning, Norm Nelson was suddenly gone.
“Jerry knocks on my door and says, ‘Dad passed away.’ That’s not what I want to hear,” said Len Nelson with emotion.
But Len and Jerry Nelson said this is how their father wanted to leave this world — at home and living life up to the final minutes.
“He basically went with his boots on,” Len Nelson said.
Norm Nelson’s funeral is scheduled to take place on Saturday in Perry.