1. Ely Nelson TOOPS Born on 28 Oct 1909 in Witchita, Kansas. He died on 4 Mar 1970 in Waynesville, Missouri. He grew up in Oklahoma and had his own radio repair shop at 14 years of age. A very strong personality who also loved to talk. Nelson was a HAM radio operator and built nearly all of his equipment from scratch. In the early 1960s he organized and commanded a Civil Air Patrol Group Headquarters in Missouri. He was an electrical inspector at Ft. Leonard Wood for 20 years and an amature private pilot. In 1968 he started a local chapter and unionized a a sizable federal work force at Ft. Leonard Wood. He was very well known, loved and respected by many who knew him as was evident by the large number that attended his funeral. Nelson was and is an inspiration for his descendents and most certainly my hero.
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