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Memories &
Stories Carl Nelson |
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| NELSON, CARL | |
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"A
doll put me through college" is the way Carl Nelson relates to his
experiences dating through 46 years of teaching band and orchestra in
Iowa High Schools. A 1911 graduate of Cherokee High school, Nelson goes on to explain that while still in high school he parleyed a ventriloquist at with a doll he called "Jimmie" into a real paying proposition. Adding to his his chalk talk abilities he traveled with a Chautauqua for some 13 weeks each summer during his junior and senior years in high school. From his $25 a week salary he saved funds to obtain his college eduction. Without this he feels sure a college eduction would have been impossible. He continued traveling with the Chautauqua during the summer months for 13 years an itinerary that included 14 states. Carl still puts on shows using his talents in both fields for various organization in his home town of Ft. Madison. Carl and his wife Cecil celebrated their 50th anniversary by coming to Aurelia to visit his sister, Mrs. Will Wieland, Aurelia and calling on old friends there and in Cherokee, visiting briefly in this newspaper office. Carl has taught band and orchestra for the past 46 years, 35 years of that time at the Ft. Madison schools. He says he organized the first band for the Ft. Madison Penal Institution, directing them for the first year. Evidently getting them off to a good start for the inmates have kept up this activity through the years. Carl remembers one incident when in order to have a balance orchestra for a concert four musicians from the penitentiary were to play with the high school students. They practiced together several times. As time for the concert neared the students began asking when these "guest" players were to come. When informed they had been practicing together already, the student replied "Oh, I thought they were just the judges." But through all the years of a successful and interesting life, Carl has never ceased to be thankful to the doll named Jimmie who made it possible for him to attend college and in turn accomplish his teaching career. "I was three years before Bergen," he recalls. Source: Former Cherokee County Historical Society scrap book |
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