He was his father's son.  From his father, he learned what the words honor and integrity meant, and so many other things, and lived by them all of his life.  Bernard Calvin (Cal) Nelson was born in a two-room house, built by his dad, in the woods, a little south of Gowan, Minnesota, on November 16, 1938, to Adolph and Margaret Nelson and ran out his string on November 10, 2021, just short of his 83 ^rd birthday.  The doctor that day in 1938 was there to hunt white tail deer with Adolph, but took time out to deliver Cal, then shot his buck, and went back home.

Services for Cal will be at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Fort Benton on November 19, 2021, at 1:30 p.m.., followed by a coffee and cookies/rolls reception at the church. Benton Funeral Home has been entrusted with services and arrangement.  Please visit Cal's online memorial page at www.bentonfh.com to send a card or leave a message of condolence for his family.

Cal has been cremated and his ashes will be inurned during a private graveside service at Riverside Cemetery in Fort Benton on November 20.

Cal attended school at Floodwood, Minnesota, graduating in 1956.  After graduation he moved to California to work for CF Braun & Co., and engineering company.  He later moved to Montana where he met and, in 1983, married his forever love Kathleen Ferda in Helena, Montana.  Together they designed and built a log home in the mountains outside Clancy, Montana, where they lived for 17 years.  Cal continued working in the engineering field at Superior Fire Apparatus, then Caird Engineering in Helena, and at Montana Tunnels Mines in Jefferson City.  In 2001, they moved to Fort Benton, to be nearer Kathy's family.  Cal's favorite activities included going out to lunch with his honey, having coffee with his buddies at the Clubhouse, working in his woodshop making sawdust, and hunting for mor wood for his projects at the tree dump and wherever h could find it!  He gave away many of his woodworking creation to friends all over.

During his lifetime, Cal did many things: worked for the Minnesota Department of Forestry as a ranger; worked in the family logging operation, worked 60 ears engineering; raised three very fine sons; and was a life-long woodworker, as was his father.  He worked on the design of everything from major oil refineries to fire trucks; mining ore processing equipment to furniture; from NASA's Lunar Lander to family homes; and chicken coops, and bridges across the creek, and built most of those himself.  He has owned a cabinet shop for decades.  Cal loved living in the town of Fort Benton that became home and left his mark from one end of it to the other with his woodworking and cadworking skills.

Cal is preceded in death by his parents; son, Jeffrey Sean Nelson; half-brother, F. Warren Wilson; and half-sister, Marjoire Von Bohland.

He leaves a loving wife, Kathleen; two very fine sons, Mike (Grace) and Steve; grandchildren Sarah (Eric) Nuanez, Jacob (Megan) Nelson, Lindsey (Eric) Riley, and Zachary Nelson; five (soon to be six) great grandchildren; Poppa's boy, Pepper ("the best cat in the world"); little punkin Molly, their corgi; brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law; numerous nieces and nephews; and a gang of good friends.

He has stated so many times that the most important things in his life are family and friends, and a person's good name.  He always said that he was very proud of something a life-long friend had told him many years ago.  The man said, "You can always trust Cal Nelson with your wallet, your wife, or your whiskey, ALWAYS!"  He instilled these values in his boys, and hi is so very proud of them both.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Florence Dedman Animal Foundation in Fort Benton, or to a charity of the donor's choice.

He is dearly missed but his family is comforted by the knowledge that Cal leaves us to be in the company of the Master Carpenter.