Carl Ernest Nelson, 88

Carl Ernest Nelson passed from time into eternity Aug. 28, 2025. He was born to J. Victor Nelson and Vinettie M. Nelson (Krones) on Oct. 29, 1936.

At that time, the family was living on the original Carl and Christine Nelson homestead on the east side of Hayden Lake, Idaho. He attended the one-room East Hayden Lake School for grades one through eight. Upon graduating from Coeur d'Alene High School, he attended the College of Idaho at Caldwell, Idaho, for one year.  

Ernie served two years in the United States Army beginning in 1956. He was deployed to Korea for six months as a medic just after the close of the Korean War. Upon his discharge from the Army, he attended the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, for his second year of engineering studies. It was during that year that he was moved to offer his life as an itinerant minister. From 1959 to 1965, he devoted his time and energy to serving others in his role as a minister in the state of Washington. In June of 1965, a freak accident left him partially paralyzed from the waist down. He spent the next three years in engineering school, graduating in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of Idaho.

In January of 1967, he married Reta Barber of Olympia. They adopted their one son, Baurice, as a newborn infant in May of 1968. Ernie and Reta moved frequently during the first 15 years of their marriage before settling into their home on Wiggins Road in Lacey, Wash.

Ernie worked as a civil engineer specializing in bridge design until his retirement in 2014. His employers included the Washington State Department of Transportation and CH2M Hill of Bellevue, Wash.

In March 2016, Ernie and Reta moved to the retirement community of Bonaventure of Lacey. He is survived by his wife, Reta, their son, Baurice (Julie), two grandsons, Braxton and Blake, three step-granddaughters, Sydney, Jeni, Katie, a great-grandson, Blaine, and one sister, Ruth Spencer, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Preceding him in death were his parents and two sisters, Itha Hughes and Edith McCombs.

A memorial service will be held Oct. 4 at 3 p.m. at Funeral Alternatives of Washington in Tumwater, Wash.