Tuesday, July 2, 2024
When Curtis Nelson was in high school at Melvin he played guard on the football team.
“At that time, Melvin had the longest winning streak: 31 wins without a loss,” says Curtis. “For two years at home games, no one scored on Melvin. We played Mason (77-0), Eden (45-0), Menard (40-0), and they were a lot bigger schools. We just had the right boys and the right coaches, and things clicked.”
At age 14, while in the eighth grade, he got a job as janitor at the bank in Melvin.
“By the ninth grade, I had a key to the bank and the combination to the vault. I did that for four years at a dollar a day.”
When he graduated from high school he had no interest in college. He just wanted to be a banker. He borrowed $175 from the bank, bought a car, left town, and found a job at a bank in Houston.
“I was there three years. They were real good to me in Houston. They let me do everything in the bank by the time I was 21.”
That same year, when he was 21, he went to Port Lavaca where a new bank was getting organized.
“I hired all the employees, bought all the equipment, and stayed at that bank until I was 43. I became president of that bank and was president for a good long while.”
At age 43, a close friend his same age had a heart attack. He didn’t want that to happen to him, so he left the banking business.
“I had always been renting land, running cows. I started buying and selling land and putting in subdivisions. Over the years, I’ve had 38 farms and ranches and 16 subdivisions in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.”
Curtis has three children and gave each one a ranch.
“So, I’m working for them now.”
While he was living in Lubbock and Santa Fe, he was on his way to Wimberley when he went through Brady and saw a house he liked. It had a for sale sign in the yard. He called a realtor, and within an hour the house was his.
“I like it very well. I enjoy it. It covers a whole block. It has ornamental iron fences all around it, two guesthouses, and a large meal building. I was born in the hospital here in Brady. Now, after seeing the world and doing everything, I’m back within five blocks from where I was born. That’s what you call getting back to your roots.”
