Three Crazy Careers Seventy-Two Years

This account of three unplanned careers supports the theory that life does not pursue a set of plans. As the author at ninety-two explains to friends, "If it weren't for World War II, I'd likely still be milking cows today." While in elementary school, Nelson and his older brother, Roy, became key parts of the family's dairy labor force. He describes his official thirty-year work career as a fertilizer salesman with clarity. Companies, bosses, and fellow employees are named. Each is...
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This account of three unplanned careers supports the theory that life does not pursue a set of plans. As the author at ninety-two explains to friends, "If it weren't for World War II, I'd likely still be milking cows today." While in elementary school, Nelson and his older brother, Roy, became key parts of the family's dairy labor force. He describes his official thirty-year work career as a fertilizer salesman with clarity. Companies, bosses, and fellow employees are named. Each is given a candid appraisal. Significant failures on his part don't appear to stand in the way of his advancement. Nelson often sees this as pure luck or happenstance. As an ad-lib speaker following retirement, he describes himself as "several notches below President George Bush." And yet almost thirty years and 4,957 speeches later, high schools were still requesting his appearance when he decided to discontinue speaking engagements in the summer of 2011. Various stimulations triggered the writing of three books during the final fifteen years of his postretirement thirty-year career. The challenge of attracting publishers is described, followed by Nelson's observations of the self-publishing process.