Bob Nelson
There are plenty of outstanding fathers in the Big Sandy area. For some time, now "The Mountaineer" has named a mother of the year at Mother's Day but this is the first time we have started a new tradition of naming a father of the year for Father's Day.
We had a list of around 8 names for father of the year and showed that list to several people and in every case, Bob Nelson's name was at the top of the list.
So, it is most apropos to name Bob Nelson as "The Mountaineer's first father of the year!
Bob was born and raised in Hinsdale, Montana. He is a fourth generation Montanan on his mother's side and a third generation Montanan on his father's side, and all homesteaded and farmed in the Hinsdale area.
After graduating from Hinsdale High School, Bob went to Montana State College taking Broad field Agricultural Education. After getting his degree he came home to Hinsdale and started teaching agriculture. It was there that he met the second grade teacher, Jane, and they were married in 1974. They have two sons, Mark and Lance and both are living in Fairbanks Alaska which Bob says is not unusual because his father was in the Armed Forces in Alaska and after getting out he stayed in Alaska for a time until his father convinced him to come home to Hinsdale and take over the family farm.
Meanwhile Bob and Jane moved to Missoula to teach but the Missoula area just was not what the couple were looking for. Montana State College told Bob that there was an agriculture job open at Chinook and to interview for it but to also look into Big Sandy because there was an agriculture teaching job opening there too and it would be a good chance for him to practice his interview techniques before getting to the Chinook interview. Bob interviewed at Big Sandy and it was love at first blush so he went to work for the Big Sandy school system and after his teaching career was over, he revolutionized the whole computer system which he still does to this day.
It was a shock to hear that Bob is leaving the school system once and for all the first of July. We advise the school to keep Bob's phone number on speed dial. They may need his services frequently.
Bob Nelson has been one of the best loved of all the Big Sandy teachers and taught his students like he taught his own boys.
In 2000 he joined the Walleye organization and one of his jobs with that organization is to teach many kids how to fish. This year, for example the organization and Bob taught 360 area fifth and sixth graders how to fish, fed them a meal and took them on boat rides around Fresno Reservoir. Each then was presented a brand new fishing pole. This goes on year after year and Bob is one of the Walleye people who make it happen.
Along with teaching those fifth and sixth graders how to fish, Bob teaches them that living here in North Central Montana we live in a treasure trove for outdoor sports and activities and this area is unique, even applying Montana standards.
"I keep teaching them to fish and to love this area because I can see that the students love it," Bob added.
Among the other activities that Bob is engaged in is he has a seat at the table of the St. Mary Rehabilitation Project. Living in Hinsdale, and hearing his parents and grandparents talk, Bob knows firsthand how important it is to have water from the St. Mary river coming down the Milk River. Before that happened, often for years and years the Milk would go dry by the fifteenth of July.
This year on the tenth of July, Bob is taking off go to Alaska for most of the rest of the summer.
As for his own children, Bob says that at a very young age he taught them to fish, hike, backpack and just to love the outdoors.
"If you want to call them fathering skills, I started them very early in my own family," said Bob.
He said that his children are into the outdoors big time and that is one reason they live in Alaska.
Bob's older son Mark went to MSU and got a degree in biology. He wanted to study fisheries. Every summer Mark worked in Alaska and today his job is with Alaska Wildlife. As a matter of fact Mark just got his master's work completed for a degree in Marine Mammal Biology and he studies specifically whales and seals. One reason Bob is going to Alaska now is to help his son defend his Masters work.
Younger son Lance went to MSU Northern for a time then joined the Marine Corps and when he was discharged, he was discharged in Alaska. He works as an iron worker in Alaska and when he works, he works six ten hour shifts. On his day off it is off to find a bear or to fish or to do something related to the outdoors.
Bob said that just last week Lance took his day off and spent it in a tree stand looking for a big bear and he found it and took his Sunday to get the bear home and into the freezer and was back for another ten hours at work the next day.
"I think that my sons could have been doctors or lawyers but I taught them so young about the outdoors that it has been with them all of their lives.
Now we have not mentioned much about Jane Nelson, Bob's wife because this is a story about a father. However, Bob is the first to say that without the help and support of Jane, none of this could have ever happened.
We wish Bob Nelson well in his Alaska summer and to all fathers reading this story, Happy Father's Day to all!
