OBITUARY Champ Forney Nelson August 31, 1928 – October 24, 2018 Champ Forney Nelson, the best song and dance man in the steel industry, peacefully passed away on October 24, 2018, at ninety years of age surrounded by his loving wife of sixty years, Gloria Parnell Nelson, and daughters, Page Nelson Stabler and Kelly Nelson Spetalnick. Forney was born in Rockford, Tennessee, on August 31, 1928, to Mary Louise and Bernard Maddox Nelson. He attended Armstrong College in Savannah a year before joining the US Air Force.
He was a Staff Sergeant and crew chief on a F-84 with the 158th Fighter Squadron stationed in Misawa, Japan. After an honorable discharge in 1953, he continued his studies on the GI Bill at Clemson University graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. On his way to becoming a legend in selling steel and management, he started at US Steel becoming the plant foreman and district salesman in Fairfield, Alabama.
After transferring to Atlanta with the Ultamet Program, he switched gears and joined the Feralloy Corporation and returned to Birmingham to work as Sales Manager, Vice President and General Manager of the plant and Vice President of National Accounts. After retirement, he continued working for ten more years as a highly successful consultant with Preussag International Steel Corporation. Forney, or Doodad to his four grandchildren, always put family, friends and people first.
His life was a lesson in honesty, loyalty, hard work, generosity, respect, laughter and unshakable love. He enjoyed membership in the Hibernian Society marching in Savannah on St. Patrick’s Day, winning ducks in the Sertoma Club, and hitting them long with the VCC Blue Tee Boys. For fifty-eight years he was a member at The Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Vestavia Hills, Alabama.
Being near water was a dear thing – from growing up on the beaches of Tybee Island to the many years at Lake Martin surrounded by his adoring grandchildren. Doodad was bigger than life, a force of nature that filled every room and lifted you up. He will be sorely missed.
Besides his wife and daughters, Forney is survived by four grandchildren, Sam Spetalnick (Ava), Zach Weidman, Molly Spetalnick and Savannah Weidman and sons-in-law, Tom Spetalnick and Alan Stabler. A memorial service will be at The Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Vestavia Hills at 2 pm on Sunday, October 28th, followed by lunch and visitation at the Stabler home: 2352 Garland Drive. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent to his church or Children’s Harbor in Alexander City, Alabama.
They also want to recognize with deep appreciation the friends and caregivers that lovingly eased him through his last years, especially Kim, the Secret Sauce.
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