Nelson Thomasson III ’35

Nels died Aug. 6, 1999, in Garrett County Memorial Hospital, Oakland, Md., near his summer home in Mountain Lake Park. He was 86.

Son of Nelson Jr. 1900, and Indie Gardiner Thomasson, he prepared for college at Chicago's Latin School. At Princeton, he majored in English, joined Tower Club, and roomed with Charlie Edmonston. After graduation, he worked briefly for J. Walter Thompson Co. and Scott Paper Co., then joined Chicago-based paper merchant Knox & Schneider Co., becoming a senior v.p. He didn't take full retirement until 1997.

He was an avid tennis player, gardener, and gourmet chef. He participated enthusiastically in '35 class activities and found time for a myriad of community jobs, among them, fundraising chair of Chicago's March of Dimes, senior warden of St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Barrington, Ill., and secy. of Chicago's Lake Shore Club.

His self-proclaimed greatest lifetime achievement was his marriage to Bette Sue Cantrell in Dec. 1939. They were mirror images in many ways, most evident, perhaps, in a contagious zest for living and a lifelong devotion to friends and family. Suzie died in 1994. In addition to daughters Indie Cater and Lee Nelson, Nelson leaves a son, Nelson IV, two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

The Class of 1935