William Melvin Nelson

William (Bill) Melvin Nelson, Naval Officer, Aviator, P-3 pilot, teacher of Mathematics for over 20 years in the Houston ISD, husband, "Dad", mentor, friend and caregiver, passed away Tuesday, March 26th, 2013 at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He succumbed after a valiant 13 year battle with Multiple Myeloma.

Bill was born in Albany, New York, on May 10th, 1941 to Reynolds Nelson and Florence Wood Nelson, youngest of their five children. He was preceded in death by his mother and father and his brothers, John and David. He is survived by his brother, Richard, of Tucson, Arizona, his sister, Marian Nelson Moak, of Rensselaerville, New York, his beloved wife of forty six years, Sandra (Sandy) Varnado Nelson, and his niece, Gwendolyn (Gwen) Varnado, the daughter of his heart. His survivors also include his very close niece, June Nelson Sneider, and her husband, Timothy Sneider, of Kemah, Texas, as well as many other nieces and nephews and their families.

Bill attended Berne-Knox High School in Berne, New York. After graduating, he attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida receiving a B.S. in Mathematics. He then entered the United State Navy’s naval officers training program at Pensacola, Florida. Upon completion he began training at the Naval Aviators Flight Training School in Corpus Christi, Texas. After being honorably discharged from the Navy in 1972, Bill taught in the Duval County School District in Jacksonville, Florida before coming to Houston. For the rest of his career, he taught in the Houston Independent School District at Lamar HS, Pershing MS, Madison HS and Lee HS in the Mathematics department. He received a Master’s degree from the University of Houston. Upon his retirement from HISD, he worked for Dearborn & Creggs Investments in Sugar Land, Texas.

He was an active member of the Houston Federation of Teachers and served as building steward. Bill’s hobbies included working on automobiles, motorcycling, listening to classical and jazz music, and reading.

Even though Sandy and Bill were never blessed with their own children, Bill was much more than an uncle.

He was the “Dad” that many of his younger relatives never had. He was a very loving and caring person who was known for his generosity to his family as well as to a proverbial stranger on the street. Uncle Bill’s loss to his family will leave a hole that will never be filled.

The family wishes to thank and show our greatest appreciation for Jacki, who was Bill’s ICU nurse, Dr. Melik who was Bill’s ICU physician and for Dr. Raymond Alexanian, Clinical Professor, who was Bill’s Oncologist for the past 13 years and all the other fine staff and doctors of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, without their hard work and dedication we would not have had Bill for the past 13 years.