My brother wrote this up and sent it in the Juneau Empire, the local newspaper where I grew up and my parents lived most of their life. It is for both my dad, who died earlier this year, and my mom, who died Thanksgiving day about two and half years ago. Since they spent more than half their lives together, remembering them together makes sense.
Dotty June (Sorg) Nelson
Dotty June Sorg was born in Nebraska in 1929 and lived there with her family until 1935 when they moved to the Portland Oregon area. Her folks, Rudy and Erma (Ahrens) Sorg were the children of German immigrants, and had homesteaded in Arthur, Nebraska and proved up on the land. Although they owned the land in the sandhills of southwestern Nebraska, it was too poor to make a living farming or ranching. Dotty rode bareback, with her older brother Luther, on a horse named Baldy to a one room schoolhouse. She would take a baked potato in her pocket to keep her hands warm and to eat for lunch, later. Her younger brother Bill was too young to go to school. The family would gather cow chips to stack up against the windward wall of their house to block the cold winter wind and to use as fuel. When the family left Nebraska, they sold the land and took mainly home preserved food in jars with them. Dottys son Eric made a trip with Dotty in 1998 to the old homestead – it was the only time dotty would return there since the family’s departure in ’35. All that was left of the old homestead was a brick and the ancient sand hills.
Anyway, the family found work in Portland and there in their first year of residence, Dotty met Francis Sumpter, her lifetime best friend. Francis later married Dotty’s brother Luther and they had 2 children, Curtis Sorg and Randy Sorg, who still live in Oregon. Luther served a hitch in the Navy. Luther later worked as a millwright in Portland and helped build the huge valves used in the trans-Alaska pipeline. Her brother Bill joined the Air Force and worked a career, eventually working in Intelligence, and helped program core memory used with missiles during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bill met a German woman, Margaret, while stationed in Germany during the Cold War, married her and lived in Wichita Kansas. His children Tom, Nancy, and Jennifer lived in the area. Bill, Tom and Nancy have passed away.
Eventually, Erma lived in Portland with her third and final husband, Jim Barkell, on 52nd street, just north of Sandy Boulevard, near the Hollywood district. Erma had outlived her first 2 husbands Rudy Sorg and Frank Tollard. Jim Barkell was a professional tugboater and mariner and had met Erma at the Meier and Frank store in Portland, where she worked at the time. Jim had also been married before and had lived in Ketchikan. Among other things he had served in the US Army horse mounted Cavalry and later in the USCG.
Dotty went to college at University of Oregon and lived in Carson Hall. She studied Law in the Liberal Arts department and eventually went into teaching. She worked in the insurance industry and for Ma Bell as a long distance operator, particularly during holidays such as Christmas when there was extra pay for working long hours. She liked the work as it was social, in those days. As a youngster, she also worked at St. Anns Hospital in Portland.
Dotty met Jim Nelson on a blind date on New Year’s Eve, 1953.
James Allen Nelson
James (Jim) Nelson was born in Portland Oregon in 1927. His parents were Olga Theresa Anderson, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants, and James (Ed) Edwin Nelson, the son of Swedish immigrants. Olga spoke Norwegian as well as English of course. Ed was always mechanically inclined and owned a Dodge dealership in Gresham with a partner, Brockway. The business was taken over by Brockway after Ed had a heart attack – he recovered but didn’t work again and died 10 years later in 1961. Ed was active in the Portland based climbing club called The Mazamas and topped most of the major peaks in the pacific northwest. After Ed’s death, Olga lived in Portland on 79tth street for many years. Jim has one younger brother, Raymond who still lives in the Portland area, in the town of Sandy. Ray was a college teacher. Olga lived to be 99.
The Nelson family lived on a small farm located on Pipeline Road in Gresham, Oregon, just east of Portland. Jim went to grade school there and later worked various jobs including working as a fire lookout for the Forest Service. One notable assignment was on a mountaintop near the town of Sixes on the southern Oregon coast.
Jim was drafted during the Korean War and briefly served in a mortar battalion, before being reassigned to a hospital in Indianapolis. After his service in which he was not deployed overseas, he returned to Oregon.
Jim attended college at (was it U of O?) and met Dotty in Portland, on a blind date. They got along well and were married a year after meeting each other, on Dec 26, 1954.
The Story of James and Dotty (Sorg) Nelson after their marriage, December 26, 1954.
Jim and Dotty lived in Oregon and finished out their college educations. At one point Jim got training in computer programming, under the GI Bill.
They attended a summer semester of college at the University of Mexico, with the famous muralled Central Library building, in 1956. They experienced the large Mexico City earthquake but were unharmed. They got to the University of Mexico from Oregon by driving their VW bug round trip.
They taught in various small Oregon town public schools and their first child Susan was born in Coos Bay in 1959. Eric followed in 1961 in Gresham when they lived for a period at the family farm. The youngest 2, Pete and Rolf, were born in California when the family lived in San Bruno in the Bay area while Jim was working as a computer programmer for Bank of America.
Jim didn’t particularly like working for Bank of America and thankfully he was recruited by the brand new State of Alaska. Bank of America was so conservative in the 60’s that Jim was reprimanded for removing his suit coat. He was offered a job as a Systems Analyst in Juneau and the family moved there in the summer of 1967. He bought a nice house right in the middle of the recent Behrends Ave avalanche area and when coworkers told him of the recent snow slide (not disclosed by the seller) he sold that house and bought another house in the Valley, on Aspen Ave. They lived very comfortably there for 42 years. Mountain ash, rhubarb, highbush cranberries, and devils club flourished in the back yard. Jim and Dotty later lived for a time in the Crow Hill and Parkshore condos before moving to the Seattle area to be near Rolf and Su and live in a retirement home that offered some assistance.
During Jims time at The State and in Juneau he made friends such as Phil Wall and Jim Eberhardt. Other friends in Juneau such as Rob and Jetta Steedle were always valued. There were numerous others of course including Mossy Mead and all the guys in the mens group.
Dotty made friends in Juneau such as BettyLou Hart and Cecily Morrris and they would travel together overseas after they had some time and money to do so. Among other places they went to Mexico, Spain, England, New Zealand, Australia, Morocco and Puerto Rico.
Jim and Dotty were active in the Juneau Unitarian group and Jim performed several marriage ceremonies for locals. The Unitarians always had great pot luck cook outs at the beach, and were very supportive when Jim and Dotty needed some help in their later years in Juneau.
Jim was active in Juneau International Folkdancers (JIF) and of course he enjoyed dancing. One time the group travelled to Vladivostok and went sailing and dancing with locals there.
Dotty always like fishing for humpies and Dolly Varden trout off the beach at Point Louisa or Eagle Beach and it was even better if one of the boys was there to take them off the hook for her.
During Jim and Dottys time in the Aspen Ave house the 4 kids grew up and moved out, and they both worked careers and eventually retired, and then they travelled and snowbirded away to warmer places like Baja Mexico, Ajo Arizona, and Silver City New Mexico.
Jim worked for the State for 11 years until a layoff in 1978 – this was an austerity measure prior to the influx of pipeline money. He then went to work for Systems Northwest doing contract data processing for the state. Systems Northwest was owned by Felix Toner and Rod Nordling. After the kids were old enough, Dotty worked in the Insurance industry, working for Caroon and Black, Dawson, and Mike Miller at Northern Marine Insurance. She also worked for a time as a realtor.
When he could fit it in, Jim owned commercial fishing boats, the Senta, the Kris, which were classic double ended wooden trollers, and a couple others. He bought the Kris from the teacher Ken Klaunder. He took the boys as crew sometimes. We never made much money trolling but it was a fine adventure. The family also bought 2 acres from Glen Parker in Gustavus and built a cabin using rough cut spruce from the sawmill in Excursion Inlet. The land cost about $750 an acre.
*****
Dotty survived her 2 brothers and also most of her contemporaries, and, 2 years after having a stroke, passed away on Thanksgiving Day in 2021. Family was present to help her on her way. She was always smiley and peaceful, and a wonderful mom to us 4 kids.
Jim had a slow decline after taking a fall in 2023, and died in April 23, 2024. Family was present as dad moved on to Whatever Is Next. He was a good father to us and worked hard to make sure we were cared for but also exposed to the expansive Alaska Wilderness as we grew up.
Jim and Dotty are survived by their four children Su, Eric, Pete, and Rolf as well as Rolf’s wife Victoria and their two children.
There will be a Celebration of Life in Juneau:
Sunday July 21st.
Sandy Beach Log Cabin Shelter
4:30 PM
All friends and family are welcome. Feel free to bring a snack or potluck dish. A fire and charcoal grill will be provided. Please reach out to family if you need any help or information.