d the
Visiting Nurses' Association give us quick response of their very best."

Those who worked with him have unforgettable memories of the way in
which he visited the poorest tenements, always with the same courtesy
and unconsciousness of environment that he showed to wealthy
parishioners. Whether East Hill or Mt. Adams they were his people, and
each received the kind of attention, the friendship, the grave dignity
and consideration that each most wanted. When it was a Communion
Service for the sick in a poor section of the city, he had a deeply
sympathetic approach. Usually he himself would clear a little table in
the dingy room, and when he had placed the fair linen and the silver
vessels where the sick person could watch him and had donned his
vestments, the place was transformed. As he commenced the beautiful
liturgy, read only as the Rector could read it, there was in the humble
room a Presence for which he was the channel.

In his reading of the Burial Office, there was a play of light and shade
upon this man of God who, like Moses, "wist not that his face shone."
The majestic notes of faith and assurance which reverberate in the words
of this service were, on his lips and in his sympathetic and superb
reading, like the overtones and rich harmonies of an organ. There was no
formalism nor coldness, no hesitancy to plumb the stark reality of the
occasion, but only the vibrant convictions of his own great faith in the
goodness of God. Few can fail to recall the clarity and feeling with
which he read St. Paul's immortal passage in 1st Corinthians, nor ever
forget the prayer he invariably used in this service, "We seem to give
him back to Thee, dear God."

Frank Nelson made Christ Church known throughout the city, and on
occasions of trouble and stress, as just mentioned, people other than
those in his flock turned to him naturally and wistfully. Their desires
were not always consistent with the customs of the Episcopal Church. In
one such instance a widow requested a eulogy, but Mr. Nelson told her
that it was not the procedure of his church and, furthermore, he would
not know what to say. Not abashed in the slightest, she replied, "Oh,
that doesn't matter. Just give the address you made at the Mabley-Carew
Department Store dinner!" However, he did read a poem, and in trying to
express her sincere appreciation the widow somewhat astounded him by
saying, "Why, that was enough to make Bob stand up in his coffin."