His friends described him as fun-loving, outgoing and easy to get along with.
Dylan Nelson was going to be a sophomore at USD this fall. He was a member of Sigma Nu and a political science major who loved to play video games.
Nelson, 18, drowned Aug. 8 at Lake Madison after rescuing his brother and cousin. According to The Argus Leader, the boys were swimming near a sandbar at Walker’s Point Recreation Area on Lake Madison when a strong current carried them into deeper water. Nelson helped bring his brother and cousin closer to shore with the help of someone passing by on a personal watercraft. But Nelson wasn’t able to get back to shore. Divers recovered his body later that night.
Sigma Nu President senior Scott Buchanan said as a way to remember Nelson, members have decided to rename their formal room “The Nelson Room.” Buchanan said house members plan to make a plaque with Nelson’s picture and an inscription about who he was and how he died.
“Dylan died in a very heroic way,” Buchanan said. “(He) was a very honorable man. I think it’s important that generation after generation comes into this room and sees that plaque and knows who Dylan was.”
Friends of Nelson say they aren’t surprised by his heroic efforts.
Junior Isaiah Howard lived in the dorms with Nelson last year and they joined Sigma Nu together. Howard said Nelson’s last actions were “just in his character.”
Buchanan recalls the first time he met Nelson, during recruitment week last fall. At about 6 feet 9 inches tall, Buchanan said Nelson towered above everyone. Right away, Nelson clicked with everyone in the house.
“In a nutshell, you could say Dylan was a gentle giant,” Buchanan said.
His friends are quick to laugh and smile at the memories they have of Nelson. While they lived in the dorms, Howard said Nelson was often teased about his height – but in a good way.
USD President James Abbott spoke at Nelson’s funeral, which was held in Chester, S.D. He said Nelson’s parents asked a university representative to speak, and he wanted to do it personally.
“It was important for me to convey to his family and friends that Dylan was not just a number,” Abbott said. “Every individual student is important to us. And I also wanted to convey that he died a hero.”
Junior Ciprian Viziteu, also a Sigma Nu, said Nelson had an “outstanding personality.”
“He wasn’t like most people I’ve met,” Viziteu said. “He was so easy to get along with, so easy to talk to – that’s a big part of the reason why everyone in the house got along with him so well.”
Howard, who was living at home in Maryland this summer, said Nelson called him the day before he died. They talked about the upcoming year, memories from last year and politics. Both political science majors, Howard was trying to get Nelson to join Student Government Association and they were enrolled in the same state and local government class.
Howard said Nelson’s mom called to tell him what happened.
“It was pretty intense,” Howard said. “I was in shock the entire time.”
With school back in gear, Howard said he’s still trying to do some of the things he and Nelson had talked about.
“It’s strange. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like if Dylan was there (in class),” Howard said.
It’s different without him, Howard said, and sometimes he doesn’t want to believe Nelson is gone. Nelson was set to move into a third floor room in Sigma Nu. That room is now vacant, and Buchanan said none of the current members feel right in taking it. So for now, it will just stay empty.
And for Buchanan, whether he’s at a party, a social event or a weekly house meeting, he finds himself scanning the room, expecting to see Nelson towering over everyone else, before it clicks in his head that Nelson is gone.
“That’s what’s kind of hard for me: You see something in the house that maybe he contributed in fixing or breaking, and every time you see something like that, it brings back those memories,” Buchanan said.
Reach reporter Sarah Reinecke at Sarah.A.Reinecke@usd.edu.
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