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Chief Broker at Carolinas' Largest Real-Estate Firm Has History of Service

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

Sep. 9--As if rescue missions with NASA weren't challenge enough, a former flight crew mechanic, now in real estate, maintains the philosophy, "This we do so that others may live."

Larry Nelson is broker-in-charge of Prudential Carolinas Realty, the largest real estate firm in the Carolinas. However, nearly 30 years ago, before he joined real estate, he performed rescue missions for the U.S. Air Force and helped with the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger recovery.

Those experiences shaped his philosophy of service to others, he said.

"My approach while in the military was I did not want to be the one who said, 'I wish I had done,'" Nelson said. "I wanted to be the one to say, 'I wish I could do it again.'" Nelson joined the Air Force in 1976. After several assignments at bases in the United States and Europe, he was assigned to Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, N.M., in a special operations unit.

He then was assigned to Patrick AFB in Florida. While there, Nelson was involved in the Space Shuttle Challenger recovery while assigned to USAF Air Rescue and NASA. He was responsible for clearing the path of launch debris, he said.

"Our mission was to tell anyone out in a boat they were in a debris path and to move," Nelson said.

After clearing the path, their objective became a rescue mission, he said.

He recalled that on the morning of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster he felt a sense of uneasiness.

"We were all sitting, waiting to see it go," Nelson said. "We saw the rocket boosters take off on their own."

Nelson said ground crews immediately recognized a problem. But before Nelson could act, his crew had to solve a problem with their rescue helicopter. Six men changed the blades without the use of a hoist, he said. A process that normally took 45 minutes only took 15 that day, and the rescue mission began.

"We were told there was nothing to go out and rescue," Nelson said. "Our search patterns were looking for flight suits."

Recovery missions for debris continued for about two months, he said.

In 1995, Nelson returned to Kirtland AFB, where he retired from military service and joined Prudential as a sales agent. Two years later, he transferred to Greenville and was promoted to broker-in-charge.

"Through the course of moving around and staying on base, I had no personal investment," Nelson said. "I saw my military experience as a way of helping people get established with home investment."

Nelson was hired as the general manager of Prudential's Lake Wylie office in August. He said he values the opportunity to serve others.

"This I do so that others may live," Nelson said.

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(c) 2003, The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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