Oscar N. Nelson was born in rural Dane County January 4, 1887. He served from April 23, 1928 to January 1, 1952, as Executive Secretary of the Beloit Commercial Club, later named the Association of Commerce. He also served earlier as Executive Secretary of the Janesville Chamber of Commerce for six years. He was on the editorial staff and was sports editor of the Beloit Daily News for four years and was Rock County Register in Probate for nine years.

A year before Pearl Harbor, Mr. Nelson organized the Beloit Council of Defense, thought to be the first in the nation. This council was widely copied in Chambers of Commerce across the land. In depression years Nelson organized a $107,000 relief drive and in 1933 set up and administered a “scrip currency program” which carried during a bank moratorium. He was chairman of Beloit’s Centennial Celebration in 1936, was a director for 26 years and president of the Community Chest, forerunner of the United Givers’ Fund and was one of the founders of the Rock River Safety Council. That organization honored him in 1957 at its 27^th annual meeting.

Nelson was president of the Wisconsin Chambers Secretaries in 1925 and 1931 and served on the national Chambers Secretaries Board. He served both the Beloit and Janesville Kiwanis Clubs as president and was lieutenant-governor of the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan Kiwanis District. He was a promoter of the Rock County 4-H Fair. In his early years Nelson played baseball and managed some of the best semi-pro teams in this area. He was an accomplished sports writer and was the author of several books. Mr. Nelson married Mayme Kelley, who at the time was society editor of the Beloit Daily News. The couple had two sons, Dale and Don and four grandchildren. He died on March 3, 1958, in Beloit.