Nelson, Leonard Worth (“L.W”)
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Nelson, Leonard Worth (“L.W”)
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Leonard Worth “L.W.” Nelson was a janitor at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, where he was very well liked among the students as he was heavily involved in student and community organizations.
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Leonard Worth Nelson, also known as “L.W.,” was born in Mooresville, North Carolina to Carrie Stinson Nelson and Richard Nelson on July 30, 1926. The Nelson family was very large and well-known among the town. Nelson received education up until the fourth grade but was unable to continue due to Jim Crow laws that limited his access to education. Nelson later married his wife Glendora Sharpe Smith who had children from a previous marriage. He embraced his step-children as his own along with his birth children. He was later drafted into World War II.
In approximately 1942, Nelson began serving as a janitor at Davidson College. He cleaned dorms and academic buildings and woke up students as part of his daily duties. He worked for about thirty years until he retired in approximately 1973. He was very well liked by the students as he woke the students up, exchanged jokes with them, and was very involved in student organizations. This allowed him to create strong relationships with the students, and they knew they would always have a good laugh for him.
L.W. Nelson passed away at age 80 on January 5, 2007. He was buried at the Bethel AME Church Cemetery in Cornelius, NC on January 12, 2007.
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July 30, 1926
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January 5, 2007
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1930 Federal Census, Ancestry.com
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1940 Federal Census, Ancestry.com
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1950 Federal Census, Ancestry.com
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Leonard Worth Nelson, U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, Ancestry.com
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Chuck Wright and Jim Kuist, “Tribute To A Janitor,” The Davidsonian, November 18, 1955, 4
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Erwin Duggans, "L. W.," Scripts and Pranks, April 1961
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"Leonard Worth Nelson 'L.W.', The Charlotte Observer, January 10, 2007, 4B
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