Lars Degn Nelson was born on December 28th, 1927 at the Scandinavian Cannery. The cannery was located at Snag Point Alaska, which is now known as Dillingham. His parents were August Nelson and Ella (Nielsen) (Nelson) Adkison. August Nelson was the winter watchman at the cannery. He drowned in a storm when Lars was four years old.

Lars was in the first graduating class of the territorial school in Dillingham, in the year 1949. He was drafted into the army in 1950 for the Korean War and served his time at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.

In 1958, Lars met Mary Teresa "Terry" (Coady) Nelson while working at the Kanakanak Hospital. Despite an order by the Hospital Nursing Director that Terry was not to “fraternize with the local native boys,” she fell in love with Lars and married him on October 30th, 1959. They lived on the local hospital compound until 1964, and then built a basement home on Lars’ native allotment where they raised their children.

Lars worked as a fisherman, a maintenance worker at Kanakanak Hospital, as ground crew for Wein Air Alaska, a Dillingham Jail Guard, and finally, he retired in the early 1980’s with his wife. Lars passed away Sunday, November 16, 2014 in Palmer, Alaska.

Biographical information pulled from obituary.