Des Plaines manufacturer was also successful artist

Raider E. “Ray” Nelson owned a successful plastic fabrication company in Chicago, but it served a secondary purpose: It provided a medium for his artwork.

Nelson created several Plexiglas sculpture pieces that were auctioned off in recent years.

One, however, remains in storage at the Smithsonian.

“Freedom” was an abstract piece that Nelson created in 1970 and was later displayed in the White House. Made of clear Plexiglas that featured twisted forms embellished with nylon string, it appeared to take on different shapes.

According to family members, it was the work Nelson was proudest of. He died Friday. The 35-year Des Plaines resident was 90.

“He never had any formal art training,” says his only son, Tom, of Carol Stream. “He just liked tinkering around with his hands and before long he was creating sculpture.”

Nelson was something of a humorist, and combined with his natural artistic talent, he crafted several cartoons that were published. Most were picked up by the Continental Times in California, but he submitted many to Reader’s Digest, his son says.

Nelson was born in Oslo, Norway. He came to the U.S. in 1925 with his mother and older brother. He grew up in Chicago and served in the Illinois National Guard before World War II broke out.

During the war, Nelson served with the parachute division of the 82nd Airborne Unit. He saw action in the invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

“That was the biggest thing that impacted my dad’s life,” his son added, “serving in World War II.”

When he wasn’t sculpting or working in his art studio, Nelson was canoeing. He was a colleague and friend of Ralph Frese, who started the Des Plaines River Marathon in 1958, but in the mid-1960s, Nelson started his own event: a canoe race across Lake Michigan.

“Ever since he was a little boy, he had this fixation to go across Lake Michigan,” Tom Nelson said.

It took some doing, but Nelson eventually lined up some Chicago-area sponsors as well as the Chicago Power Squadron, which served as a security net for the canoers, who paddled from New Buffalo, Mich., to the 104th Street Beach in Chicago — a total of 41 water miles.

The race was held two years, before he tried to put together another one, this time from the Great Lakes Naval Base to the former Meigs Field. Halfway into it they had to call the race due to the large waves and storm conditions.

Besides his son, Nelson is survived by two grandchildren.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. today at Oehler Funeral Home, 2099 Miner St. in Des Plaines.