Honor Pages Index

Honor Pages

ETC(SS) Nelson Eggleston • 1941 – 1999

Nelson Eggleston, age 58, died Monday, June 21, 1999, at Carolinas Medical Center after a courageous three-year battle with cancer.

His positive attitude and his refusal to give in to the disease were an inspiration to all who knew him.

He retired in 1982 after serving 22 years in the nuclear submarine service, four years of which were aboard the ill fated USS Scorpion, transferring shortly before her loss in 1968.

Upon retiring from the Navy, he completed his Electrical Engineering degree at North Carolina State University, graduating in 1991. He worked as a thermographer for Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company until his medical retirement this year.

Nelson was born in Rock Valley, Iowa, the son of Alden and Della Eggleston, May 17, 1941.

Survivors include his loving wife, Sara Carr Eggleston, cherished daughters Donna Renshaw of Canterbury, Connecticut, Carol Eggleston of Crivitz, Wisconsin and her fiance David Jorgenson, stepsons Gavin Carr and Michael Carr and wife Kathryn, grandchildren, Alexis, Duncan, and Nicholas Carr.

Survivors also include brother Rollin Eggleston and wife Marge and two sisters, Christine DePirro and husband Joseph of Orchard Park, New York, and Dr. Cleo Kosters of Burbank, South Dakota, as well as several nieces and nephews.

The special love Nelson and Sara shared was obvious to all who knew them. Nelson was devoted to his church, his family and his country. Work with Habitat for Humanity was especially fulfilling to him.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Park Road Baptist Church, 3900 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28209.

A memorial service to celebrate Nelson's life will be held at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, June 23, at Park Road Baptist Church, with Dr. Paul Hanneman, Dr. Allen Laymon, and Dr. Gerald Worrell officiating. The family will receive friends in the narthex of the church immediately following the service.

Hankins & Whittington - Dilworth Chapel is serving the family of Mr. Eggleston.

The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC - June 22, 1999

 

Chief Eggleston always sat in front of the main coolant pump switchboards on the port side of AMR2UL. He would just sit there and look into the engineroom.

I had just qualified as AEA and Chief Eggleston and I would talk. He was from the east coast as was I. It was during these talks that I found out he had transferred off the USS Scorpion one year before it was lost at sea. He was a very quiet and dignified person.

Chief, I finally did find your obituary. Thanks for our talks.

Terry Fessner
Former Shipmate
USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680) 1976-1981

 

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Joe Smith
I reported aboard as a newly minted nuke RO while the boat was in the shipyard at Kittery Maine, Nelson Eggleston was the RC Div LPO. So there I was, my first time going out to sea on a boat. I was TOLD that he had been a crew member of the Thresher, before it left the shipyard, but he stayed ashore for training. And we were going on sea trials and Nelson Eggleston was staying ashore for training. And me? I was going out on sea trials!
So, I guess someone was pulling my leg. Chief!
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Terry Fessner
Chief Eggleston always sat in front of the main coolant pump switchboards on the port side of AMR2UL. He would just sit there and look into the engineroom. I had just qualified as AEA and Chief Eggleston and I would talk. He was from the east coast as was I. It was during these talks that I found out he had transferred off the USS Scorpion one year before it was lost at sea. He was a very quiet and dignified person. So Chief I finally did find your obituary and thanks for our talks.
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Our shipmate has passed on before us.

Whether by enemy action, the remorseless sea, or the ravages of time and age,
we must accept that God has called you to where we cannot yet follow.

We commend your body to the deep, and your soul to God Almighty.

May God grant you fair winds and following seas.

 

Godspeed, shipmate.

 

We will miss you...

 

 

 

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another...

"No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

John Donne

Meditation XVII
Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris.
Now this bell tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.
1572 - 1631

 

 

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