Couple earn mentor recognition
Flathead Valley Community College President Jane Karas honored Dr. Van Kirke and Helen Nelson with her eighth annual Montana Mentor Award during the 18th annual President’s Donor Dinner May 16.
The award was created in 2006 to honor a community leader who exemplifies the meaning of mentor.
Dr. Nelson became one of the first medical specialists in obstetrics and gynecology in Kalispell, opening his own practice in 1962. During his 40-year career, he delivered more than 4,000 babies, serving as the largest provider for the pregnant Medicaid population in the Flathead Valley and never turning away any patients in need of his service.
Nelson was a founding member of ALERT and the Flathead Outpatient Surgical Center. He served on the ALERT board of directors for 37 years and served on the C.M. Russell Museum and Glacier Bank boards.
In addition to mentoring the Nelsons’ five children and 15 grandchildren, Helen Nelson has offered her time and talents as an active community volunteer in numerous capacities.
Her service has included teaching Sunday school for more than 20 years, serving as camp director for vacation Bible school, serving as state resident for the Montana Medical Society, chairing fundraising efforts for medical education and research, serving on a parent-teacher association.
Helen Nelson also served on various boards, including for Kalispell Public Schools, Kalispell Ski Club and Alpinglow Inn.
She is best known for dedicating approximately 25 years of service on the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts Foundation and for playing an instrumental grant-writing role to secure the funds to construct the new playhouse and to pay for the facility’s recent upgrades.
Beyond her community involvement, Nelson has opened her home to various groups, serving as a host family and providing groups with warm hospitality and a safe place to retreat. Visitors have included Missoula Children’s Theatre, African Children’s Choir, Up with People, and participants in local music festivals, sporting events and nondenominational Bible studies, among others.
In addition, for more than 40 years, Helen Nelson has invited 350 elementary school students for a field trip into their home to view her husband’s American Indian artifact collection, providing “buffalo chip cookies and moose milk” each year to the children.
During her presentation, Karas praised the Nelsons for using their gifts of vision, leadership and passion to make a difference in the community.
“These individuals are unmatched in character, kindness, generosity and family values,” she said. “They are role models for all of us.”
Most recently, the Nelsons served in leadership roles on the FVCC Foundation’s capital campaign to raise funds to complete the college’s new Rebecca Chaney Broussard Center for Nursing and Health Science.