Part 4 (1/2)
With the ministers of other churches he worked in closest cooperation, and together they fought the cox Gang, supported the Social Agencies, and many other activities to which the civic-ly of their devotion The Reverend John F
Herget, the distinguished former minister of another don church, the Ninth Street Baptist, says, ”For twenty-five years we labored together and the passing years only added to rity He was a real friend, and when my only son died, he was the first h et it Do you wonder that I loved him and cherish his memory? We were very different in many ways but those differences never deprived us of mutual respect and deep affection”
Without a doubt, arded hiyman in the city
In 1901 Mr Nelson was elected to anization which is co Protestant ministers On the occasion of the club's twenty-fifth anniversary in 1919, Dr Dwight M Pratt, then of the Walnut Hills Congregational Church, wrote a witty and apt characterization of eachis his superb sketch of Mr Nelson:
NELSON: The Apollo of the Club, equally recognized as such whether in ecclesiastical robes andits counterpart in athletic qualities of mind and heart; a broad- to the artificial in form and ceremony or to the pretentious in self-constituted hue, and aware of its historic affinities to Rome Fundamentally spiritual in his conceptions of the Church and of the Kingdoion that are born of the flesh and vitiated by human pride; unsurpassed in the Club for his exalted conception of historic Christianity and of the glory and prestige of a spirit-filled and spirit-guided church, having a vision of church unity impossible of realization under the assuenial de and environment; intimately acquainted with the trend and quality of modern critical scholarshi+p, and in sympathetic touch with the social moveh and vital, however, to make the mistake,social Christianity for evangelistic, thusthe care, culture and comfort of the outer man more important than his spiritual redemption; a student of men and books; an observant traveller, a recent and scholarly resident of the ancient metropolis of the world:[12] a keen interpreter of the movements of history, ancient and modern; endowed as a preacher with hoe and the Kingdom of God the one supreme reality for man; and all this in spite of the fact that he is far fro the marks of an ascetic nor any tendency or inclination to self-s as the time honored secretary of the Club; popular with men because in so many respects like therace of speech and ra the note of sincerity, sympathy and appeal that commands asseh-churchmen and the favorites of Bishops; a man indispensable to the breadth and representative character of the Club
There remains one other activity to be mentioned in Mr Nelson's city-wide ood appointed him to the Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati, a board couished appointood's primary emphasis on the welfare of the city, and indicative of the confidence placed by intellectual and civic leaders in Mr Nelson's judght business men and lawyers and concerned itself mainly with the financial problems of the University Mr Nelson's approach was to the human element in each situation hich this Board had to deal
He served in this capacity for eight years, and beca trustee” The University Medical School has oversight of the Cincinnati General Hospital, and Mr Nelson was troubled by the large nu members of the staff and the nurses and interns The hours were long, the pay poor, and living conditions deplorable He was very active in his support of the efforts by the authorities to bring about improvement in these conditions
He was chairman of the committee which interviewed candidates for the office of Dean of Woman, since many on the Board did not feel qualified tothe depression in the thirties when reduction of salaries and of department personnel beca fair treatment for the individual teacher He would ask if the teacher whose salary reduction was under consideration had a faues considered hi these difficult years, and the President and deans frequently sought his counsel
He was a fire arranged lectures for business ave the plan his hearty support, and occasionally came under fire because of certain radical speakers He was frequently the choice of the University as its representative on public occasions in the city At the Commencement of 1924, the University of Cincinnati bestowed upon Mr Nelson the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, ”as one who has ever striven to advance the government of the mind and spirit, and who by his own severe self-discipline and true huht all of us to subdue ourselves to the imperishable laws of reason and faith”
When one considers the recognition which the entire city whole-heartedly and unreservedly accorded Mr Nelson, it is a sorry commentary on the influence of politics that upon the expiration of his second term as a trustee of the University the new Republican Mayor, James Garfield Stewart, failed to reappoint him He was deeply hurt, but there was satisfaction in the realization that it was because of his continued denunciation of party politics that the reappointyhtness was the moral requisite The people knehere he stood, and no office could silence hied to sonized on nition was his place in a group of fifteen leading citizens selected by four Cincinnatians chosen at randoiven vision and voice to public service, and in the art of human relations a leader in many fields for many people”
Few public testimonials have awakened so spontaneous a response as that tendered Mr Nelson on December 3, 1923, in honor of his twenty-five years of service to church and city Originating a his own parishi+oners, the plan quickly developed into a city-wide observance
The coements was expanded, and included the Reverend Doctor Francis J Finn, Rabbi David Philipson, the Reverend John F
Herget, and the Right Reverend Boyd Vincent, as well as a large number of pro arrived, one thousand one hundred people from all paths of life sat down to dinner in the Hotel Gibson The President of the University, Dr Frederick C
Hicks, presided The Mayor, then George P Carrell, cut short a vacation in order to be present and speak for the city, Mr George D Crabbs represented the Social Agencies, Dr William S Rainsford came on from New York to join in the acclaim Mayor Carrell voiced a perfect tribute when he spoke of Mr Nelson in these simple words: ”Here is a true nize creed or color Cincinnati is proud of him Cincinnati loves him” At the conclusion of the speeches, Mr Nelson, visibly affected, rose to speak The tumultuous applause lasted five minutes With characteristic humility he expressed his thanks, and then drew the attention of the audience to the central theme of any true public servant's work, namely, that ”Faith creates; cynicis demonstration of the place Frank Nelson filled in the hearts of his fellow-citizens, an exception to the rule that a prophet is without honor in his own city There were two interesting side-lights to the occasion On theof the dinner the Reverend Francis J Finn, a particular friend, and the pastor of St Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Church, offered up the Holy Sacrifice with his Protestant friend as his special intention; and in the evening there stood a the waiters, but not of them, Detroit Williams, the colored sexton of Christ Church, who could not have been present but for Mr Nelson's skillful arrangereat Christian citizen His hu, and the city claiave voice to its conscience and helped it find its soul
FOOTNOTES:
[9] _City Management_ Charles P Taft, p 108 Farrar and Rineheart, 1933 Used by permission Other statements on the Charter Movement are based upon the report of the Consultant Service of the National Municipal League entitled _The Governement_ C P Taft, p 30 Farrar and Rineheart Used with perht expressed by Alexander Woollcott in _While Rome Burns_, p 7
[12] Mr Nelson twice spent a year in Rome on leave of absence
_They Came To Be In His Presence_
_In This Church The Reverend Frank Howard Nelson, DD
Preached The Gospel of Christ for Forty Years
1899-1939_
”_I thank my God upon every remembrance of you_”
--_Memorial Plaque at Entrance to Christ Church_
5
”You can't change me, old man I am the last of the black Protestants”