Thursday November 5, 2020

                                                          The Real Cowboy Poet

 

I met Rodney Nelson in 2010, through Lyle Bakke of Flom, Minnesota. They had been friends for decades. Lyle's wife, Margi Bakke, is related to a friend of mine, named Orlin Ostby, with whom my wife and I walked The Pembina Trail, for Minnesota's Sesquicentennial, in 2008. It was during this time the Bakke's became friends and we've stayed in contact ever since.  

 

Lyle shared an unplublished manuscript with us that enabled us to expand on the remarkable lives of the Larson Brothers of Oklee, Minnesota, and it was because of the Larson brothers that I had the honor of meeting Rodney Nelson. He was on a long-planned little road trip with Lyle, to see the Larson spread -- and their graves, as Rodney had always planned to meet the Larson brothers in person, but sadly both Carl, at age 96, and Bill, at age 98, died within weeks of each other, just before the trip's initiation. It was in Oklee, at the Oklee Cafe, where I met Rodney, a bigger than life cowboy, a real cowboy poet. 

 Rodney Nelson lived on a ranch near Almont, Nort' Dakota, with his family. He raised some cattle, wrote a newspaper column "Up sims Creek,", a few books of the same name, lots of poetry -- and participated in a lot of rodeos, calf ropin' mostly, the way I heard tell. 

 Rodney was a good -sized man, with a good sized sense of humor and a wonderfully entertaining poetic sense. I have his book, "Up Sims Creek: The First 100 Trips," signed by him. His signature was a caricature he drew of himself, in pencil, alongside a scribbled name. 

 There's a picture postcard/letter in it too, of him and his family, that he sent me in reply remarking about our 'short' meeting at the Oklee Cafe. He wrote, "We'll have to visit again sometime." 

Sadly, I guess that'll never happen, because he died on October 28, this year. His close friend, Lyle Bakke, of Flom, Minnesota, emailed me about it on that fateful day. This is a link to one of Rodney's poetry presentations at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering last year on December 6th. But don't stop with just this one . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aY343u6K40 

Rodney passed away Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, at Sanford Hospital in Bismarck after a short battle with Stage IV liver cancer. 

Rodney Rolf Nelson was born on May 17, 1949, to Farrel and Martha Nelson. He grew up on the family ranch in Towner. He attended North Dakota State University. Rodney married Teri Olson on Aug. 25, 1980. They raised two kids, Annika and Lafe, on the ranch at Sims. Rodney was a rancher, brand inspector, cowboy poet, and rodeo competitor. He loved his grandsons, Haakon, Sigurd, and Tollef. 

He is survived by his wife, Teri, Sims; daughter, Annika Plummer, Dickinson; son, Lafe (Sara) Nelson, and their children, Haakon, Sigurd, and Tollef; sisters, Genevieve (John) Skogberg, Belle Fourche, S.D., and Julie (Chuck) Cannon, Rochester, Minn.; brother, Orrin (Donna) Nelson, Towner; and several nieces and nephews.