k Nelson possessed the true
instinct of the pastor because he was moved by the zest and pity of
human life as well as by an eager willingness to spend himself. He
invariably had the right word for the occasion, and responded with a
finely balanced emotion to each individual situation. His discerning
sense of the human element in life's experiences was matchless. He spoke
humorously when lightness and gaiety were in order, and seriously when
the word of faith was needed. There is much to be learned from his
approach. Called one day to a humble dwelling on Mt. Adams where a
mother was hysterical because her boy had just undergone an emergency
operation, Mr. Nelson tore a button from his coat before entering the
room, and said in an off-hand manner, "Oh! this has just come off! Will
you sew it on?"

In a surpassingly unselfish fashion he thought of himself as the head of
the Christ Church family, and it mattered not at all to him whether
people who needed him were on the church register or were connected only
through a parish house organization. When told of someone's illness,
though the patient had membership in another church yet belonged to the
Men's Club for instance, he would say, "Oh! I must go to see him." The
agent for an Industrial Insurance Company tells of calling in a home
where the policy was about to lapse. The woman said, "I will see Mr.
Nelson. Will you come back at five o'clock?" When he returned, she had
the money.

In these tragic years of World War II we have learned that time is of
the essence, and Frank Nelson exemplified this principle in an
extraordinary manner. Through all his years of service he seemed to have
a special sense of timeliness. He acted when one should act but does not
always do so. He was what a minister should be yet is not always. He was
there when needed, not when it suited his convenience. Immediacy again
and again opened an opportunity that otherwise would have been lost and
with it the possibilities for widening his circle of usefulness. An
out-of-town friend telegraphed requesting Mr. Nelson to call on a
certain man in a hospital, a stranger to Mr. Nelson, and he went at
once. On another occasion a new member of the choir who had been in
Cincinnati only a few weeks was suddenly taken ill. The doctors at the
hospital were some time in deciding to operate, and called the girl's
roommate. Although not knowing Mr. Nelson, she phoned him of her
friend's serious condition, and he