Remembering Ray
Honouring one of TWU’s longtime friends
For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God.
- Hebrews 3:4
This verse is inscribed at the bottom of the R. J. Nelson Family Foundation letterhead—a fitting scripture for the Foundation’s namesake, Raymond J. Nelson, one of Trinity Western University’s earliest supporters.
Ray was a builder. During his lifetime, he built a marriage and a family. He built homes. He built into people. And he played a significant role in building the fledgling college that would become TWU.
Although he had only a grade 12 education, Ray never let that hold him back. “He was a very bright man, and a voracious reader,” says daughter Allyson Nelson (’77), who, along with her sisters, Glenda Elkow (’78) and Tannis Boissonault (’82), attended TWU. “He was determined to make something of himself.”
After his four-year military stint ended in 1946, Ray stepped off a bus in Lloydminster, AB, and made his home there. He and his brother, Austin, worked at Beaver Lumber, but within three years, they struck out on their own, founding Nelson Lumber Company, Ltd. in 1949. Later, they would also found Nelson Homes.
As the companies grew, so did Ray’s generosity. “He was a good steward of the financial resources he had,” Allyson says. “He re-invested in the business and in infrastructure in Lloydminster. He invested in young people to ensure they received an education and in projects he felt needed to be done.”
“His faith was the foundation for all he did in life.”
But his investment in young people’s educations went beyond the scholarships he supported—Ray and Austin each contributed toward the building of the Stanley Nelson Centre—named for their brother, Reverend Stanley Nelson, who worked at TWU in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
In addition, from 1979 to 1987, Ray served as a member of TWU’s Board of Governors. And in 2008, he received an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa. Allyson accepted the degree and delivered the commencement speech on her father’s behalf.
Those who knew Ray knew him to be a man of compassion, humour, charm, and great personal faith. “His faith was the foundation of all he did in life,” says Allyson. “It was the basis for his personal and business values. It guided the donations he made, the conversations he had with people, and the events he loved to plan.”
Indeed, Ray’s faith sustained him throughout his life. After his second heart bypass surgery in 1999, he convinced the doctors to perform a heart transplant—a surgery never undergone by anyone his age. To date, he remains the world’s oldest heart-transplant recipient.
That heart gave Ray 10 more years with family and friends—he often spent his evenings on the phone in his den, connecting with loved ones—and 10 more years to sing the hymns he loved so much. “My dad loved hymns,” Allyson says, “and even though he couldn’t sing in tune, he still said that singing ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘How Great Thou Art’ would lift his spirits for hours.”
Predeceased by Marie, his wife of 57 years, Ray passed away at home at the age of 90, on September 20, 2010. “His life was a remarkable journey,” says Allyson. “He lived a very successful life, a very meaningful life, and a very happy life. He was always thankful for what God had given him.”
by Wendy Delamont Lees
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