Deeply rooted pioneer Nelson family boasts strong branches as well

The Nelson family is not only deeply rooted in Skagit County but also boasts many branches covering a wide range of achievements near and far over the course of more than a century.

A case in point is told by Reggie Nelson, a retired teacher and La Conner High School alum, who will be among the main speakers when he and his relatives are honored as the 2022 Skagit County Pioneer Family of the Year on Aug. 4 at Pioneer Park.

“My uncle, Duane Smith, was an honest-to-goodness rocket scientist,” Nelson told the Weekly News. “He graduated from Burlington-Edison High School in 1948 and graduated from the University of Washington and went to work for JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and later for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) directly.”

Smith, an uncle on Nelson’s mother’s side, helped create equipment and processes for NASA during the space race of the 1950s and 1960s. He helped train the original Mercury 7 crew on the uses of that specialized gear.

“He was in the control room at Houston for many Mercury and Gemini launches,” Nelson said. “He was also very involved in the development of the first orbiting space station, Sky Lab, between 1973 and 1974.”

Nelson visited Smith at his Houston home in the early 1970s.

“I was thrilled to have him take me through the training mock-up of the actual Sky Lab,” Nelson recalled. “While we went through the module at the Johnson Space Center, there was a crew in the orbiting Sky Lab, and we could listen and walk around the mock-up as they went about their daily routine in space.

“Uncle Duane was brilliant,” Nelson added, “and I admired him greatly.”

The Smith branch also produced one of Skagit County’s most storied office holders, the late Luella Henry, postmistress of the Bow post office and Skagit County auditor.

“There were six Smith kids born to Roy and Lila,” Nelson added. “Three of them – Luella, Lyle and my mom, Jean – were born on the prairie in central Saskatchewan. After about 12 years of struggling to survive on the prairie the family of five moved to Skagit County. There the family grew with three more sons – Duane, Glenn and Derry.”

In all, there are now nearly 300 living descendants of Skagit pioneers Emil and Anna Nelson, who will be recognized at the 118th annual Pioneer Picnic. They were married in 1910 in Burlington, according to Reggie Nelson, who has been preserving the family history.

“By my calculations,” he said, “there are 290 living family members in the clan. This includes spouses, foster children and stepchildren. We always count the clan as family.”