Obituary for Dennis Craig Nelson

Dennis Nelson, 83, of West Des Moines passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his loving family on Wednesday, March 13th, 2024. He was a beloved husband, father, grandpa, great-papa, uncle, cousin and friend. 

Dennis was born May 8th, 1940 in Des Moines to Roy and Beryl (Brown) Nelson.   He received his education from Des Moines North High School. Dennis was united in marriage to Donna (McKinney) Nelson on September 16th, 1961. 

He had a life long career as a supervisor at the U.S. Postal Service in Des Moines and retired at age 52 in 1992.   Dennis had a passion for photography which was his hobby for many years. He enjoyed taking photos of wedding ceremonies and family gatherings. For a short time he worked in the photo department at Walgreens in West Des Moines after retiring from the postal service. 

Dennis is survived by his four children; Kimberly (Chris) Nordhagen of Indianola; Pamela (Theron) Burns; Thomas (Tami) Nelson; and James Nelson all of Des Moines; several grandchildren and a handful of great-grandchildren, and many other family members.

He was preceded in death by his beautiful wife Donna; parents Roy and Beryl; brother Floyd Hodkinson and sister-in-law Claudette Hodkinson.

Dennis has been cremated and a Celebration of Life service will be planned and announced in the near future. Please contact one of Dennis’ four children to obtain service details. 

Iowa Cremation-Waukee is handling the arrangements.

The family will be laying Dennis and Donna’s ashes to rest in Colorado at a later date.