John David Nelson

John David Nelson (Attorney and politician in Lubbock, Texas)
Born	July 12, 1951 Lubbock, Texas
Died	July 18, 2018 (aged 67) Lubbock, Texas Resting place: Resthaven Memorial Park in Lubbock
Political Party	Republican
Spouse	(1) Lockki Myrirah Rosenbaum Nelson (died 1991) (2) Ainsley Marie Williams Nelson No children
Religion	Christian Church

John David Nelson, known as David Nelson (July 12, 1951 – July 18, 2018), was a Republican political and legal figure from his native Lubbock, Texas. Until his death in a bicycle accident, he was his party's nominee in the general election scheduled for November 6, 2018, for a judgeship on the Lubbock County Court at Law #3. Had he defeated a Democratic opponent, Nelson would have taken office as a judge on January 1, 2019. Instead, Justice of the Peace Ann-Marie Carruth has been tapped by the county Republican committee to fill Nelson's unopposed spot in the general election.

Background

One of five children of Jack Odell Nelson (1918-2001) and the former Rose Mary Trepoy (1916-1995), he graduated from Monterey High School, at which he played baseball, and Texas Tech University, from which he obtained a degree in business administration. In 1976, Nelson received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Texas Tech School of Law. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Career

Upon receiving his law degree, he was admitted to practice law in all Texas courts and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He launched his legal career as an assistant prosecutor for the office of the Lubbock County District Attorney. For a time, he practiced law in Big Spring in Howard County in west Texas before he returned to Lubbock to join his brother, Jack Nelson, in their law firm of Nelson & Nelson, at which he practiced for the rest of his life.

Nelson was affiliated with the Lubbock County Bar Association; Lubbock County Young Lawyers Association, of which he was the president from 1985 to 1096; West Texas Young Lawyers Association, of which he was the president from 1986 to 1987; Texas Association of Defense Counsel, and a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. He had recently joined his brother as a member of The American Board of Trial Advocates. He was chosen Outstanding Young Lawyer in Lubbock County, in 1985. He served on Lubbock Dispute Resolution Advisory Board for Mediation. From 2008 to 2013, he was a trustee of the Windham School District, a non-geographical entity that provides educational services to offenders in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Nelson was first vice-president of the South Plains Association of Governments. From 1997 to 2002, he was a member of the Lubbock City Council. Two Republican governors, Bill Clements and Rick Perry, appointed him to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, respectively.

Community service

Active in the community, he was a former United Way "Volunteer of the Year", a board member of the Ronald McDonald House charities of the Southwest, and the Family Outreach Center of Lubbock. Nelson was named a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International. He was a member of the governmental affairs committee of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, the South Plains Kidney Foundation, and the Texas Tech University School of Law Foundation. He was a fundraiser and participant in the Multiple Sclerosis 150 Bike Ride. He and his second wife, the former Ainsley Marie Williams (born July 31, 1971), founded the West Texas Endurance Race in 2012 to promote physical fitness in Lubbock. A long-term enthusiast for baseball, Nelson had advocated through Southpaw Sports and Entertainment for locating a semi-professional baseball team to Lubbock.

Nelson was a deacon, and choir member of the First Christian Church of Lubbock. His first wife, Lockki Myrirah Rosenbaum (1952-1991), was a daughter of Billy Scott Rosenbaum (1923-1981) and the former Rachel Jewyett Anderson (1926-2003) of Garland in Dallas County. His widow, Ainsley Nelson, is the executive director of communications and marketing for Covenant House. She is the only child of Bert David Williams, Jr. (1945-1978), a pharmacist from Minden, Louisiana, and the former Judy Faye Gilbert (born January 23, 1948), since married to Gregory Lane Wingrove of Cedar Park in Williamson County near the capital city of Austin, Texas. Ainsley Nelson through her paternal grandmother, Josephine Kennon Williams (1925-2009), is a distant cousin of the late Louisiana Governor Robert F. Kennon.

Death and legacy

Nelson died days after his 67th birthday in a bicycle crash on Farm to Market Road 41 near Ropesville on the Lubbock and Hockley County line. He was struck from the rear by a Ford pickup driven by Rocky Wilson of Lubbock. Nelson was pronounced dead at University Medical Center in Lubbock. No charges were immediately filed. Services were held on July 23, 2018, at the First Christian Church of Lubbock. He is interred at Resthaven Memorial Park in Lubbock.

Windy Maryann Sitton (born January 24, 1944), the Independent mayor of Lubbock while Nelson was a council member, said that Nelson was "always, by far, and including me, the most well-read and prepared city councilman . . . who went over all the reading material and everything he could get his hands on for background … And he was pleasant -- just a wonderful human being." U.S. Representative Jodey Arrington of Texas' 19th district described Nelson as "one of the most kind, thoughtful, and loyal people I have ever known … I'm confident that the Lord has reserved a special place in Heaven for him."

The J. David Nelson Memorial Scholarship has been established at the Texas Tech School of Law, of which Nelson was a member of the law school foundation as well as a graduate.

A few days after Nelson's funeral, his fellow cyclists gathered to mourn his death with a 6-mile ghost ride, which began at the Frenship Ag barn and ended at the scene of the accident. A white-painted bicycle donated by his wife was placed at the accident site along with a plaque in his honor. Following the ghost ride, the participants held a memorial service. The David Nelson Memorial Highway, the renaming of Farm to Market Road 41, was dedicated in January 2020. The legislation to add Nelson's name to the highway was introduced by Lubbock state Representatives Dustin Burrow and John Frullo and state Senator Charles Perry.

Coincidentally, Buddy Amoroso, a Republican member of the Metro Council in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was killed in a bicycle accident on June 30, 2018, nineteen days before Nelson's death. Amoroso was struck from the rear while he was training in West Feliciana Parish for a race in Texas in August.