End of Watch:
September 8, 1980
Age: 51
Beaver County Sheriff’s Office
Accidental: Drowning/Suffocation
Sheriff Dale E. Nelson lost his life while attempting a rescue.
Sheriff Nelson responded to an ambulance call at a dairy farm located two miles west of Beaver, where two men had been overcome by methane fumes inside a concrete manure tank. As he attempted to reach the two victims in the tank, he was also overcome by the fumes. All three men died, and a fourth man was injured. Sheriff Nelson was married and the father of three children. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Beaver.
The bronze memorial name plaque of Sheriff Dale E. Nelson is sponsored by the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office.