Bob was someone I remember first meeting as a young child in the early 1960s, when my father (John Dwyer) took up guitar and started folk singing. Don Firth and Bob Nelson were usually at the house any time there was a hoot (with many others, but they are the ones I knew best). Over the years Bob was also around for his other claim to fame, "deckman" - building decks and doing carpentry work in general. The last time I visited his house on Jefferson St in Everett I was impressed by all of the antique tools he had hanging on the walls in his workshop and woodshed. On the front of his house he had an elaborate wood-framed chicken-wire covered enclosure that encompassed a tree and was connected to the house at a window so his cats could go outside safely (he lived very near a busy street).

Though they don't get updated and are rarely referred to, there are still photos of early Mudcat members available on this site. Bob Nelson as Deckman in photos he sent in, and scroll down on my page to find Bob in the fourth photo. (Some of the photos are from when we headed out on a ferry to scatter Dad's ashes, but Bob had recently had a hip replacement and couldn't make the trip, so I stopped to visit at his house before going to the ferry.)

We spoke a couple of months ago, and he sounded good. I hope whatever carried him away was fast and merciful. Stewart, how is Judy? Give her my best if you think she'll remember me.