Forrest R. Nelson, a longtime friendly clerk at Old Riverton Store in Riverton, Kansas, and the father of the store’s owner, died Wednesday at a nearby hospital. He was 98.
The store announced Nelson’s death on its Facebook page:
Nelson was a World War II veteran in Europe and spent nearly 40 years as a schoolteacher. He helped his son, Scott, with the historic Route 66 landmark after his retirement from education.
The Joplin Globe published a story about Forrest after his death:
“It gave him an outlet to communicate and talk to the people who traveled the route,” said oldest son David Nelson. “When these travelers came into the store, he could relate to where they were at. He was held captive in France and remembered being in England. … Plus, his ancestors came from Sweden. He liked to relate to the customers in the store, and they enjoyed that.” […]
Judy Adams, of Riverton, was a Nelson friend for 45 years, and she met him while serving as the local postmaster, a job she held for four decades. Nelson was one of the first people to welcome Adams to the community. […]
Adams said he made an enormous impact on people’s lives, including those of tourists. She worked at the Old Riverton Store for about a year after retiring from the post office.
“He was a very kind man who was caring, and he loved people who came into the store that he could tell stories to, whether they were war stories or about his life,” Adams said. “He had a lot of tourists that would come back every year from other countries just to see him. It was amazing because he was 98 years old and still working behind the cash register. He never let a day go by that he didn’t tell some child or person how much he cared for them.”
Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Thornhill-Dillon Mortuary in nearby Joplin, Missouri. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Parker Mortuary in Joplin. Burial will be at Hillcrest Cemetery in Galena, Kansas.
Those who attend the visitation and funeral service will be required to wear a mask, and social distancing is requested.
The Monday service also will be broadcast on the Zoom videoconference platform. If you wish to watch it, use 774 9092 1075 as the meeting identification number, with Nelson as the password.
Leo Williams opened the store on March 20, 1925, meaning it predates U.S. 66 by more than a year.
Joe and Isabell Eisler of Texas bought the store in 1973 and renamed it Eisler Bros. Store.
Scott Nelson, who’d been an employee at the store when he was a teenager, bought it in 2011 and renamed it Old Riverton Store.
(Image of Forrest Nelson via the Facebook page of Old Riverton Store in Riverton, Kansas)