Curt Nelson

Curtis Leonard Nelson, 80, enduring ill health for the past 15 months related to dementia, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at Lily & Syringa Assisted Living Facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Curtis "Curt" was born on April 10, 1945, in Rigby, Idaho. He was the third of eight siblings born to Leonard and Norma Nelson of Coltman, Idaho. He was raised on the Nelson Family Farm, approximately six miles north of Idaho Falls. It was originally established in the early 1900s by his grandfather, John Louis Nelson and grandmother, Charlotte Nelson.

He was incredibly adventurous and inventive in his youth. His brothers and sisters would often lightheartedly refer to him as the biggest "troublemaker" of the family. Curt built tall tire swings, treehouses, underground forts, snowmen in the middle of public roads, potato guns, dart guns, and all kinds of other fun items during a time when televisions were rare and cell phones and computers did not exist. He even once had his siblings playing on tall snow drifts near power lines, much to the chagrin of their father. His sister, Pat, once remarked to Curt's oldest son, "Our childhood would have been a lot more dull without your dad. He was always coming up with ideas that instigated mischief!" At the same time, however, he was always looking out for his siblings. Curt detested bullies. He was wiry, but strong as an ox due to his upbringing and daily chores on a farm. He once pulled a teenager who had been bullying his younger brother through a car window and walloped him good. Needless to say, the bullying stopped.

Curt attended Fairview Elementary School, north of Idaho Falls. Several of his report cards were marked "unsatisfactory" under the “respect for school property” section. When asked about that, his older sister, Carolyn, simply said that Curt got bored easily and his mind was just too active for his own good.

He attended Bonneville High School from 7th grade until he graduated in 1963. Curt was very active in track, and actually held the Bonneville High School record in the 400 meters for several years. Upon graduating, he attended trade school for welding, and eventually went to work for a company in Idaho Falls that repaired farm equipment. Soon realizing that welding was not what he wanted to be doing, Curt enrolled in barber college in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1966. He was a phenomenal barber, and near the end of his schooling, he took first place in a styling competition at the 1967 Utah State Barber Convention.

Shortly after graduating from barber college, Curt, several of his friends, and his brothers, Mark and Clint, joined the Idaho Army National Guard and were assigned to the 116th Combat Engineers. After basic training and technical school in Fort Lewis, Washington, Curt quickly achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant. In 1968, the 116th was activated and deployed to Vietnam. He served a full year in a combat zone overseas, and although he stated that his time there was certainly not to his liking, he forged some of his strongest friendships that would last the rest of his life.

During his tour in Vietnam, Curt was assigned as his company's barber. Armed with clippers, scissors, and a comb, he honed his craft on his fellow soldiers who simply needed a quick short haircut. Upon his return to the states in 1969, he opened a barber shop in downtown Idaho Falls. Cutting hair suited Curt very well and he would spend the next ten years in that profession. He had multiple highlights as a barber, cutting multiple politicians' hair, including the Mayor of Idaho Falls and the Governor of Idaho. His most memorable highlight as a barber, however, came when he was hired to cut hair in southern Utah on a movie set that was filming a western starring John Wayne. He did not get to cut John Wayne's hair, but he did style the hair of several of Wayne's co-stars and movie crew members.

Eventually, Curt grew tired of spending so much time on his feet in the barbershop and decided he needed a change. Using his G.I. Bill, he took flying lessons and soon earned his private pilot’s license, and then later became a certified crop-dusting pilot. Curt absolutely loved flying, and even a mistake that caused him to crash his crop-dusting airplane in 1980 left him undeterred. He was still happiest up in the air.

Working hard over the next eight years following his crash to regain his financial footing, Curt and his business partner, Jerel Oswald, purchased a used crop-dusting bi-plane in early 1988. Curt was overjoyed at the thought of crop-dusting again. Unfortunately, as he was preparing for a busy summer of flying, the moment that would define the second half of his life occurred. In the spring of 1988, he suffered a brain aneurysm. Although he survived, what his doctor said was a miracle, Curt was unable to ever regain his pilot’s license. Over the next 30 years, Curt settled on finish carpentry and the occasional haircut to make his living. Although he was unable to do what he really loved and suffered loss of ambition due to the aftereffects of the aneurysm, he rarely complained about the cards life had dealt him.

It could be said that Curt almost had nine lives. He survived a lot of close-calls during his life. In addition to the aforementioned plane crash and brain aneurysm, Curt survived a car crash into a train locomotive on slick roads, a perforated ulcer that almost caused him to bleed to death, multiple skirmishes in Vietnam, and an attack by a very mean rooster when he was two years old that he never forgot. That was the end for the rooster by the way, the family had poultry for dinner that evening.

Curt, according to his oldest son "lived in the moment." The people he was with at any given time were always the most important to him, and as a result, he often forgot or neglected when he needed to be somewhere else. Despite that, no one could argue that when you were lucky enough to be in Curt's presence, you knew you were in the company of a good friend who simply tried to make life more fun for those around him. He absolutely adored his children and grandchildren. Spending time with any of them was his favorite thing in the world. The final words he spoke to his oldest son three days before he passed were, "I love you."

Curt is survived by his sons, Layne Nelson (Kim) of Idaho Falls, ID and Ryan Nelson (Monique) of Phoenix, AZ; daughters, Carrie Royce (Daniel) of Idaho Falls, ID, Adrianne Tibbitts (Cortney) of Warrenton, OR, and Mindy Berrett of Rarotonga, Cook Islands; brothers, Mark Nelson (Susan) of Midvale, UT, Doug Nelson (Susan) of Idaho Falls, ID, Clint Nelson of Idaho Falls, ID, and Lyle Nelson (Sherry) of Phoenix, AZ; sisters, Carolyn Smith of Idaho Falls, ID and Patrice Cullimore (Ron) of Kaysville, UT; 12 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Leonard and Norma; sister, Lureeta McMurdie, and her husband, David; and sister, Carolyn's husband, Richard Smith.

Curt's family would like to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the manager, Mary White, and her entire staff at Lily and Syringa Assisted Living Facility on 1st Street in Idaho Falls. Thank you for taking such good care of our dad/grandpa/brother/uncle over the past year. You all were fantastic!

Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at Wood Funeral Home, 273 N. Ridge Avenue. The family will visit with friends from 1 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. prior to the service.