Stanley Nielsen (1946-2000)

NIELSEN

Posted By: Patrick Turner (email)
Date: 2/22/2003 at 22:37:26

Thursday, February 2, 2000

Shelby

In memory: Rev. Stanley Nielsen

Funeral services for the Rev. Stanley P. Nielsen, 53, of Harlan were held Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Harlan with the Rev. Jon Benson officiating.

Rev. Nielsen died January 28 at his home in Harlan of cancer.

He was born on July 7, 1946 in Harlan to Ralph Karl and Frieda Evalena (Smidt) Nielsen.

He graduated from Harlan High School in 1964 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, in 1968. In 1972, he received a Masters of Divinity Degree from Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque.

He was ordained at his home church, Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Jacksonville on July 16, 1972. He then accepted a call to become Pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Albert, Kansas.

In 1978, he became director of management and booking for a Christian Music Ministry DAMEISCUS under the auspices of Outreach Ministry of Harlan. In 1982 he began serving at the United Lutheran Church in Shelby and 'then in 1988, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Persia. In February, 1999, after becoming ill, he was forced to resign his position as parish pastor.

Rev. Nielsen was a member of the clergy of Evangelical Lutheran Church. He served as the regional communication consultant for the WELCA, Western Iowa Synod Assembly news director and audio consultant and was former president of the Shelby Kiwanis.

He volunteered as a Little League coach and in later years as an announcer for football and basketball games at Shelby and AHST. He was instrumental in the efforts to designate Shelby as the purple martin capital of Iowa.

Throughout his lifetime, Rev. Nielsen received many awards including, the Iowa Associated Press Century Club and Enterprise Award, the Shelby Commercial Organization Leadership Award, the Governor's Volunteer Award and the Community Betterment Award from the Western Iowa Development Association. He also received a Red Cross 21-year volunteer pin in 1986. In 1999, he received the Pheasants Forever Friend of the Year Award.

Rev. Nielsen and his wife, Cheryl (Paulsen), were married on June 2, 1968.

Survivors in addition to his wife include a daughter, Ivy Nielsen of Omaha; a son Dory, of Harlan; mother, Frieda Nielsen of Elk Horn; two sisters, Jeanne Sorensen and husband, Connie, of Milford and Lona Louis and husband, Fred, of Northbrook, Illinois; two brothers, Don and wife, Marie, of Haughton, Louisiana, and David and wife, Sandy, of Wayzata, Minnesota; and four grandchildren.

A prayer service was held Tuesday at 7 p.m. followed by visitation with the family until 8:30 p.m.

The body was cremated. Burial of the cremains will take place in the Minden, Nebraska Cemetery at a later date.