Highway 36

by Tad Gebeyehu

Few months after I came to the US, I told Nels that many Americans I met had difficulty pronouncing my name, Tadiwos. I think most of them found the “w” in my name somewhat awkward. The solution was simple for Nels. He suggested that I cut off the “iwos”, and go by “Tad”, which I agreed.

My name is Tad, and I came from Ethiopia in 2001.

At around 2005, my wife Millie and I drove to the Mayo Clinic to see Nels. While in his room, I told him that that was the farthest I drove since I came to the US. He then cleared his throat, which he did often, and which to me was a sign of an impending Nels best, and said “Tad, if everybody was like you, America would not have been discovered”.

And of course Nels left the clinic fully recovered, and came on to win in several senior league table tennis tournaments. At one time, he told me that he expected to do even better in the year ahead because he would have an advantage over the others in his group. When I asked him why, he said “because I will be the youngest in the group”. You wouldn’t find many people with that kind of optimism. Not in their mid/late eighties.

Nels always got enormous pleasure from someone’s success. And he made fun of failures, which is a great way to deal with. I have learnt a lot from him.

To this day, whenever I take Highway 36 to whichever direction, I always think of Nels. It was with him that I first traveled to and from the twin cities, while staying with him (and Bev) in Stillwater. When I drove in the twin cities by myself in those early days, and see any sign directing to “Hwy 36”, I felt safe. If the governor asks me for a wish to make, I would say that Hwy 36 be renamed Jonnes Highway.

To Nels, the world was always an exciting place and it offered new opportunities to explore every day. So, how can he not be impatient with the rest of us when all we do is business as usual?

I will miss you Nels.