‘ENTER TO LEARN, LEAVE TO SERVE’:
100-Year-Old Augustana Alumnus Still Lives by Augustana Motto Nearly 80 Years After Graduation | BY JILL WILSON
D
ecember 22, 2020, marked Pastor Rev. Richard Nelson’s 100th birthday. There wasn’t a big celebration due to COVID-19, as the 1942 Augustana College graduate lives in an independent/assisted living home in Apple Valley, Minnesota, but it’s a safe bet that the Iowa native was still singing, likely the Augustana Alma Mater. The 1999 Augustana Alumni Achievement Award recipient says the university is in his DNA and he still lives by the motto, “Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve,” one that he made his own in 1938. “Augie’s motto has motivated my entire life and ministry. Reaching out in caring and sharing ways — to people both gifted and needy — has blessed my life. It is truly amazing that as well as the professors and courses of 80 years ago, the values and spirit of Augustana have been the resources needed to move onward in a world of change and opportunities, ” said Nelson.
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THE AUGUSTANA | SPRING 2021
ENTERING TO LEARN
Nelson attended Lakefield High School in Minnesota, where he played basketball and football. He received several scholarship offers to play sports at state colleges, but even during the Great Depression when money was tight, one faith-based college was always in the back of his mind. Nelson says during his early years, he would make trips to Sioux Falls to buy “goods” with his parents and take notice when driving around the Augustana College campus. His father, who was a pastor, would sometimes give devotions at student chapel services. “It was just a little seed that was planted and I discovered how important that seed was growing, and I didn’t look at any other college,” said Nelson. As a first-generation student in his family, Nelson says music was a major interest of his and he sang in the Augustana Choir all four years. He also played trombone in
