Thank you, Sam Nelson

A friend of the foundation recently passed away.

Sam Nelson, a Delano native, was key to the town's involvement in our community and youth programs. He was instrumental in the original creation of both Delano Dream teams and 'day-to-day' efforts of the projects developed by the teams - working on youth issues, downtown revitalization, river clean up and local libraries. His most recent contribution was working to create nearly 300 new industrial jobs in the city.

I had a chance to email his son, Jeff, a couple days ago and I shared with him that his dad was a great local leader and will be missed. The last time I saw Sam was at a September 30th training in Delano where we were organizing task forces to address downtown development and industrial job development. He deserves a lot of the credit for many good things in his community where he was a positive influence who always gave freely of his time and energy.

We would all do well to emulate Sam as we live and work in our communities. There is no doubt in my mind that Delano and our whole region are better places because Sam did more than his share.

Sam, you will be missed!

Read the Herald Journal's article about Sam.