Memorials › Bascom McTyiere Nelson
Bascom McTyiere Nelson
3 Feb 1906 – 24 May 1999
| Birth | 3 Feb 1906 |
| Death | 24 May 1999 |
| Cemetery | Castro Memorial Gardens Dimmitt , Castro County , Texas , USA |
| Added by | Edith Guynes Stanley on 14 Oct 2020 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/165062909 |
Bio
Longtime News publisher dies One of Castro County's most active civic leaders and former Castro County News publisher Bascom McTyiere (B.M.) Nelson, 93, died Monday morning at Plains Memorial Hospital in Dimmitt after a lengthy illness. Funeral services will be held today (Thursday) at 2 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church of Dimmitt with Rev. Vernon O'Kelly of Amarillo and Rev. Rusty Dickerson of Dimmitt officiating. Mr. Nelson published several newspapers before leasing the News in 1943. He remained its publisher until his retirement in 1984. He was involved in many projects that helped stimulate growth in Dimmitt and Castro County through the years, including establishment of the hospital in Dimmitt, the vegetable industry in the county and sugarbeet industry in the area. He also was a former county Democratic chairman and was a delegate to many state Democratic conventions. (Published in The Castro County News, 75th year-No. 8, Dimmitt, Texas, Thursday, May 27, 1999, Page 1) ----- Bascom McTyiere Nelson, 93, a Hall of Fame county editor, died Monday morning in Plains Memorial Hospital following a lengthy illness. Funeral services will be held today (Thursday) at 2 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church of Dimmitt with Rev. Vernon O'Kelly of Amarillo and Rev. Rusty Dickerson of Dimmitt officiating. Burial will be in Castro Memorial Gardens, directed by Foskey-Lilley-McGill Funeral Home. Mr. Nelson was born Feb. 3, 1906, at Ferris, Texas. He was raised at Rogers after moving there with his family by covered wagon from Artesia, N.M., when he was 7 years old. After graduating from Rogers High School, he worked several years at the Rogers News, ran a print shop in Paducah and later worked with legendary editor Doug Meador at Roaring Springs and Matador. He married Viola Edna Patzke in 1929 at Buckholts. She died in 1979. Mr. Nelson published newspapers at Roaring Springs, Amherst and Olton before leasing the Castro County News in 1943. He bought the paper the following year and published it 40 more years until his retirement in 1984. His newspaper career spanned every technological change from handset type to the computer age. He served as mayor of Roaring Springs in the early 1930s, and was believed to be the youngest mayor in Texas at the time. At Amherst, he helped establish the South Plains Co-op Hospital in the late 1930s. A tireless civic worked, he was involved in virtually every growth project in Dimmitt and Castro County for more than 40 years. He helped organize the first public hospital in Castro County and gave the present Plains Memorial Hospital its name. He was one of the founders of the Dimmitt Chamber of Commerce and served as its part-time manager for four years in the 1950s, when he spearheaded the establishment of a vegetable industry in the county. In the 1960s he helped open the way for the area's sugarbeet industry when he testified before Congress for a sugarbeet allocation for the High Plains to replace the sugar supply lost by the US trade embargo of Communist Cuba. He was a 56-year member of the First United Methodist Church of Dimmitt and the Dimmitt Lions Club, and a Melvin Jones Fellow (life member) in Lions International. He was a former county Democratic chairman and a delegate to many state Democratic conventions. He was named Dimmitt's Citizen of the Year in 1966 and the Citizen Through the Years in 1985. After receiving "Golden 50" awards from the Panhandle and Texas Press Association in 1982, he was one of the seven charter inductees in the Panhandle Press Hall of Fame in 1992. He was preceded in death by a son, Bascom Jr., in 1991. He is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Don and Verbie Nelson of Dimmitt; a daughter, Mary Burnham of Albuquerque; a daughter-in-law, Pennye Nelson of Beeville; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Active pallbearers will be David Behrends, Carl Bruegel, Jim Cleavinger, Craig Fuller, Leroy Maxwell and Jim Wright. Honorary pallbearers will be Bill Budwell, Jimmie Chapman, Bob and Don Sheffy and G.L. Willis, all of Dimmitt; Joe Drerup of Nazareth; Jack Miller of Plainview; J.T. Swim of Roaring Springs; Maurice Campbell of Amarillo; members of the Dimmitt Lions Club; directors and former managers of the Dimmitt Chamber of Commerce; and the staff of Plains Memorial Hospital, where he lived the last two years. The family suggests memorials to the Lions Club Scholarship Fund, PO Box 964, Dimmitt, TX 79027, or to the Methodist Scholarship Fund, 110 SW Third St., Dimmitt, TX 79027. (Published in The Castro County News, 75th year-No. 8, Dimmitt, Texas, Thursday, May 27, 1999, Page 2) ----- U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 Name: Bascom McTyiere Nelson Gender: Male Race: White Age: 34 Relationship to Draftee: Self (Head) Birth Date: 3 Feb 1906 Birth Place: Ferris, Texas, USA Residence Place: Amherst, Lamb, Texas, USA Registration Date: 16 Oct 1940 Registration Place: Amherst, Lamb, Texas, USA Employer: Self Weight: 152 Complexion: Light Eye Color: Blue Hair Color: Brown Height: 5 11 Next of Kin: B M Nelson Household Members: Name Relationship Bascom McTyiere Nelson Self (Head) B M Nelson Wife Texas, Death Index, 1903-2000 Name: Bascom Mctyiere Nelsen Death Date: 24 May 1999 Death County: Castro U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 Name: Bascom M. Nelson Birth Date: 3 Feb 1906 Issue Year: 1954 Issue State: Texas Last Residence: 79027, Dimmitt, Castro, Texas, USA Death Date: 24 May 1999
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