Rufus Nelson was a farmer in the Patterson / Happy Valley area of Caldwell County. He and his wife Salvadora Lowdermilk were very active in Harper's Chapel Methodist Church, where Rufus served as Sunday School Superintendent.

Rufus developed throat cancer, and though he travelled to Johns Hopkins for surgery, he eventually succumbed to the disease.

He was buried in the family plot at his beloved Harper's Chapel.

One of his obituary notices from the LENOIR TOPIC appears below:

"DEATH OF MR. W.R. NELSON. The critical illness of Mr. W.R. Nelson, of Patterson, referred to in our last issue terminated in his death at 3 o'clock last Sunday afternoon. Mr. Nelson had been suffering for some months with a cancerous tumor on the neck and had undergone an operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital at Baltimore, hoping for relief, but the disease had fastened itself so firmly on him that medical and tender care could not stay it. The end came peacefully, Mr. Nelson retaining consciousness up to within a few minutes of his death.

He talked freely with those present and told them he had no fears whatever, and quietly and calmly waited until the final summons.

Mr. Nelson had long been an active and valued member of the Methodist church at Harper's Chapel - was one of the best men with a kindly, cheerful, benevolent disposition and was one of Caldwell's most worthy citizens. He was in the sixty-second year of his age at the time of his death, and leaves a widow and large family who have the sympathy of our whole county in their sorrow. The immense concourse of people who attended the burial at Harper's Chapel Monday attested the esteem in which the deceased was held. Rev. S. Ivey assisted by Rev. N.R. Richardson conducted the burial services."

(Writer is a direct descendant.)