Charlie Nielson arrived on this earth with his being planted firmly in two states.
Raised on Plains Road in New Paltz, New York and Columbia and Edisto in South Carolina, the grandson of a butcher and a blacksmith, Charles Ivan Nielson was a man of endless goodness and endless talents.
Charlie spent his New York childhood freely roaming the wilds of Plains Road, building and renovating with his father, and attending the campus school where his mom was the librarian. He was a nationally ranked rifleman, frequent fisherman and boater, and a lifelong outdoor enthusiast.
Summers were for riding the greyhound to South Carolina with his mother and sister, all set for shenanigans with his cousins in the sun and sand. Shenanigans they never outgrew.
After graduating from Ulster Community College (when the campus was in Kingston!), Charlie ventured out of state to attend the newly accredited Franklin Pierce college. Ever his own person, when the dorm situation didn’t work out as planned, Charlie signed on to rent a room on the local dairy farm. He cheerily made it work, despite the lack of heat and availability of only a single light. Needless to say, as everyone who knows Charlie knows, frugality was one of his core values.
At Franklin Pierce Charlie wrote his capstone dissertation on Abuchon hardware. Having interviewed Mr. Abuchon himself, Charlie’s real success was the sheer efficiency in his paper. It may have been the shortest dissertation ever accepted by the college and Charlie often chuckled that it might not pass muster now that it’s a university. Regardless of the length, he did apply Mr. Abuchon’s lessons to running Henry’s hardware on lower Main Street, in partnership with his father. The phone number for Henry’s is still the number for Nielson Water Systems today.
Ruth Ellen was and always will be the love of Charlie’s life. High school sweethearts, their marriage was built on love, faith, and a family of four boys that kept them on their toes. Charlie and Ruth Ellen’s lifetime of adventures included lots and lots of trips to Edisto, and eventually Turnabout, their beach house to center them for the last 30 years of family vacations, summer beach time, boating and fishing on the inter coastal, cousin visits, thanksgiving turkey frying, winter beach time, and even an extended stay during the pandemic. It was truly a home away from home and the memories of time there and time together will always be treasured.
He and Ruth Ellen were always up for projects, building their home, gardening, farming, stained glass creations, canning, etc. Most recently he built Ruth Ellen the lending library at the end of their lane. A project that has brought outsized joy for Ruth Ellen.
Charlie imparted lots of parts of himself and his capabilities to his boys. Among many other talents, and all being project people in their own right, Mark is a carpenter and thoughtful and steadfast leader, Matthew is a boater and a house builder, Michael restarted and carries on the legacy of the water business, as well as tending to the garden growing Charlie loved so much, and CJ not only studied economics too, he also dreams and schemes and does projects in every scale.
Aside from Edisto and New Paltz, and his brief stint in Ringe, New Hampshire, Charlie and Ruth Ellen traveled a bit. Mostly they camped in the pre beach house years, with friends, with the boys, at the beach (Edisto of course!), and along the coast of Maine. After retirement they made their way across the Mississippi to the Dakotas, where he connected with his extended Nielson genealogy. They also realized a lifelong dream of exploring Alaska on a cruise with friends. It was epic and stunning.
Over the years, Charlie was invited to work on wells in Africa. He often expressed regret for not having gone. Two years ago he and Mike traveled to Guirgho, in Burkina Faso. The mission was simple but intense-create an electrified well system to provide water to the local school, which relied on hand pumped water to support the community. In 100 degree dry heat and right along side many younger people, he impressed the locals with his stamina. The team was successful and the trip was an immense source of pride for Charlie.
Charlie’s spirit and soul will live on in his children, his grandchildren, his soon to arrive great grandson, and all of the friends and customers and community members he met and made and held dear throughout his well lived and well loved life. The lives he touched are too numerous to name, and there was no better life lived than of this good man, Charlie Nielson.