Dave Nelson
1937~2024
It is with sadness and heavy hearts we report the passing of David “Dave” P. Nelson Sr. on May 5, 2024.
A longtime West Seattle resident, Dave is well known from his years as operator of Seacrest Marina and Boathouse.
Dave was born in Renton to Jasper and Grace Nelson, and grew up in Black Diamond alongside his siblings Les, Chuck, and Linnie. His Uncle Les, who would later teach him boat building, often took him out fishing and hunting in the wilds. (Like Dave once said, “If you wanted meat in those days, you went hunting.”) Those experiences, together with the time he spent with his grandfather up in Alaska, likely cemented his life-long love of the outdoors. One of his favorite stories was his ultimate achievement out bow hunting: He decided to sneak up on a dozing buck and take it down with a knife; at the last second he reached out, tapped it with his fingers, and watched it bound off into the brush. What trophy could top that?
Dave was drafted into the Army in Sept. of 1957; the first thing he learned was that the Army doesn’t mess around when they serve notice. The way he told the story, he went down to the Army office, slammed his draft notice down on the desk with a “You can’t take me! I’m in school!” and then stormed out. They replied by grabbing him off the street and throwing him on the bus for boot camp. Not one of his favorite stories. Still, like everything else he put his mind to, he excelled. He was trained as an aviation mechanic with a specialty in recon helicopters before being transferred to Fort Lewis. He served as crew chief from July 1958 until February 1959, earning a Good Conduct medal, and then as crew chief in the U.S. Army Reserve until his Honorable Discharge in August 1963.
Besides being a mechanic, Dave was also an accomplished shipwright. He worked for and learned the trade from his Uncle Les at Nelson & Hanson Boat Works from 1969 to 1978; his collection of blueprints, photos, and descriptions of boats built there are testament to how much Uncle Les and that work meant to him. He worked at Lake Union Drydock on large ships, where he again ended up running a crew. One of the ships that benefited from his expertise was the steamer Virginia V. This historic wooden vessel, still in operation on Lake Union, was one of the last of the Northwest’s “Mosquito Fleet” of steamers that served the communities on Puget Sound in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the ’70s and ’80s, Dave helped run K & H Research Inc. developing oil spill booms; he also managed Nor-Westerly Inc., a fiberglass manufacturer. But most everyone knows Dave from Seacrest down on Elliott Bay. He took over Lloyd’s Boathouse and Seacrest Marina in 1972, keeping the doors of that historical wooden building and its 150 boat slips open until 1980 when the city closed it. That’s the Dave most people knew: Behind the counter, chatting with people about where the fish were biting, heading out to the boat lift to run someone’s boat down to or out of the water, heading upstairs to get some work done on a boat, manhandling rental boats and running them out of or down to the water on the railroad track-like rails he built (and that are still in use). And doing most of the mechanical maintenance to keep all the machinery and rental boat engines up and running — with help from all those who wanted to give him a hand the same way he readily helped them when they needed it.
Once the city closed the old building, he operated Seacrest Boathouse out of a trailer and shipping container until the current building was completed in 1989. Through hard work and self-sacrifice he kept the doors open on the last of the 35 original boathouses in Elliott Bay, and the last place you could rent a boat to go fishing. In doing so he helped the Tengu Club, founded by Japanese fishermen in the 1900s, continue their long and storied tradition of Sunday fishing derbies in the depth of winter that began in 1932 — Sunday noodles with the Tengu fishermen in the Boathouse was the stuff of legend. He also supported the local chapters of numerous clubs helping preserve and protect the fisheries of the local Bay and rivers: Trout Unlimited, the Seattle Poggie Club, the West Seattle Sportsmen Club, and the Puget Sound Anglers. Dave also worked hands-on with the Pacific Northwest Steelheaders Association in their efforts to repopulate the sound and its rivers with salmon. Young salmon from the hatchery were kept in the Boathouse pens for several months so they could imprint on the Duwamish River before their release. No one who witnessed the salmon smolt boiling up in the pen while feeding could ever forget that sight. In the same way the hundreds of young people who participated in the Kids’ Derbies, or anyone joining any of the other fishing derbies run out of Seacrest, including the Seattle Police and Fire departments, would never forget Seacrest or Dave. Washington State Fisheries, NOAA, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the University of Washington Department of Oceanography all conducted fishery research from Seacrest. And everyone appreciated the appealing food service he, Edie Cooper, and her daughter Katrina put together in the new building when it was completed.
Behind the scenes, one of Dave’s less obvious talents was fishing herring. That’s a forever memory — heading out after dark with Dave on his custom-built herring boat, getting a lesson in spotting and netting herring balls, off-loading a successful catch into the Boathouse herring pens. And then scooping them out again at 3:30 in the morning to bag them up for the fisherfolk heading out for that dawn bite, armed with their fresh herring and a cup of thick, black boathouse mud to keep them awake. (Herring scales no extra charge.) Seacrest was the last place in the Bay where you could get fresh and live herring, and it was thanks to the time and effort Dave put into keeping those herring and pens in such good shape. It is truly astounding, all of things Dave did for the fishing community.
He retired from the Boathouse at the end of 1993; the fishing restrictions and closures that are good for the salmon were not kind to the boathouse business. To honor his hard work and perseverance and to show their love and appreciation, key individuals in the fishing community worked to have January 22, 1994 proclaimed Dave P. Nelson Day by the King County Executive, the Seattle Mayor, and, most meaningfully to Dave, the Tengu Club.
Dave was married to his first wife Sharon until 1980; they had four children Dave loved very much. He married Edie Cooper in December of 1994, and in the early 2000s they retired up to their dream property on Whidbey Island. There Dave stayed busy taking care of their 10 acres which included a large garden and small apple orchard, feeding the resident deer population every morning and evening, sharing his love of nature and fishing with Edie’s grandchildren, fishing out of his boat while he was able and off the shore after. True to his nature, Dave took care of Edie at home during her long bout with Parkinson’s until shortly before her passing in 2018.
He was also preceded in death by his brother Chuck Carter, beloved sister Linnie Griffith, oldest son Eric, and daughter Rose Donavick. He is survived by Rose’s husband Mark Donavick; brother Les; son David Jr. and his two children; daughter Lorna Osterbeck, her husband, their two children and grandchild; nieces and nephews; and Edie’s four children, Jerry Strassburg, Katrina Barmuta, Karl Strassburg, and Kevin Varden, and their spouses, children and grandchildren.
Dave lived a long and full life, and touched so many with his kindness and generosity. He will be missed by all, and forever in our thoughts.
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