On Wednesday, July 8th, the Ashby/Dalton area experienced a tornado that claimed the life of 30-year-old Seth (Chuck) Nelson as he was working in a repair shop.

Working with him in the building was his friend and co-worker Nate Erickson who told WCCO:

At first I was so full of regret for standing out there and laughing at it, I had no respect for the situation at all. I honestly did not think I was going to live through that experience. I guess just as I was getting blown around under there I literally thought I was going to die.
You crawl out of that hole and everything is completely gone.

Nate survived the incident and got to go home to his wife and 10-month-old child, but Seth did not, leaving behind a wife and four kids. Nate went on to say there is no replacing him, not just at work but also in his personal life. Everyone seemed to love Seth.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help Seth's family as he was the primary provider while his wife, Joey, stayed at home with the kids.

On  July 8, 2020  we lost an amazing Friend, Son, Brother, Uncle, Husband and most importantly Father. The purpose of this is to help Joey and family out with any funeral costs and to help with any other living costs for her and the kids. Every little thing helps the family during this tragedy.

In just 14 hours of the GoFundMe going live, the page had raised $23,963 of the $25,000 goal, thanks to over 350 donors.

That area of Minnesota is really special, and this swift response to help out a family in need shows that. Ottertail County and the rest of Minnesota look out for their own, which is what Minnesota Nice is all about. Us here are 98.1 have the family of Seth Nelson in our thoughts and prayers at this time.

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