For countless immigrants who settled on Chicago’s South Side, meeting George Nelson meant they were one step closer to the American dream. As proprietor of Nelson Motor Sales of Mt. Greenwood for more than 40 years, he often sold them their first used car. “There were so many different kinds of people, an amazing variety of people,” said Mr. Nelson’s son, Byron. “His cars were reasonably priced and they would go for four or five years. That’s what people wanted.” Mr. Nelson, 88, died Saturday, Aug. 21, of a blood disorder in his home. Born in Chicago, Mr. Nelson attended Calumet High School before getting his first job in the steel mills on the city’s South Side, where he worked during World War II. At the end of the war, Mr. Nelson and his father, Frank, opened a Standard Oil station at 83rd and State Streets, where they dabbled in car sales. The enterprise took off, and when the gas station was leveled to make way for the Dan Ryan Expressway in the late 1950s, Mr. Nelson opened the Mt. Greenwood car dealership. With his head mechanic, Mr. Nelson would scout for reparable cars at dealerships in Wisconsin and Indiana and at auctions,, fix them up and sell them. “For five or six hundred bucks you could get a reliable car,” Byron Nelson said. “That’s all a lot of people wanted. Generations of the same family came back again and again.” Besides his son, survivors include a daughter, Karen McCarthy; and two grandchildren. Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m.Thursday in St. Walter Catholic Church, 11741 S. Oakley Ave., Chicago.
