George Leonard Nelson of the Salt Lake Mt. Olympus North 5th Ward is among the oldest active home teachers in the Church - he's 100 years old.

Faithfully, he and his son, Robert, visit their assigned families each month. He always has a story to tell, and at age 100 he isn't likely to run out of stories soon."I like being a home teacher," he said. "I hope I can always be a home teacher."

Brother Nelson, a prominent Salt Lake attorney for many years, served as a bishop, stake president and patriarch, as well as in many other callings. He also served on several corporate boards of directors, including that of the Deseret News.

He was born August 27, 1897, in Salt Lake City, the seventh of nine children of Axel Christian and Josephine Anderson Nielson. Later they changed the name to Nelson.

Work was something Brother Nelson learned early. When his father was called on a four-year mission to Denmark, 6-year old George and his older brother Waft used a small red wagon to pick up and deliver the laundry that their mother washed and pressed to support the family. During the summers, the boys peddled ice cream "bricks' for five cents each, which they purchased for four cents.

"I was never out of work from the age of 7 on," he wrote in his personal history. At age 10 he got a job delivering packages for a druggist and managed to survive the injustice of being falsely accused of leaving a syrup barrel spigot open, thus required to work free for a year to pay for the damage. It made a deep impression upon the boy. He always sought for justice in all his dealings.

He is quick to give credit to his mother's teachings for his desire to live the gospel.

He married Ila Emms in the Salt Lake Temple in 1925. They are the parents of three children Gayle (Donn) Cassity, deceased; George L. Nelson Jr. and Robert L. Nelson. Ila died Sept. 27, 1973. He married Elva Joan Stubbs Heslington in 1975.

His early years spent in Washington, D.C., under tutelage of Sen. Reed Smoot, were influential in his choice of law as a career. Church members were few in number in Washington at that time so all congregated to the Smoot home for meetings.

Upon graduation from George Washington Law School, Brother Nelson returned to Salt Lake City where he began his law practice. He practiced law until his 97th year.

He was personally acquainted with all Church presidents from Joseph F. Smith on. Often his legal counsel was sought.

As bishop of Edgehill Ward and later while president of the Monument Park Stake, he was able to secure land for Church buildings when it seemed an impossibility. As patriarch, he was asked to help give patriarchal blessings when many Japanese Saints came to Salt Lake City to go to the temple. "They would leave with tears in their eyes, the spirit was so strong, despite the language barrier," Brother Nelson said.

He was honored by his law colleagues as one who was always fair, someone they felt good at facing in the courts as an opponent. He has carried that same spirit in all his dealings with his fellow men.

Is it any wonder he's welcomed monthly as a home teacher?