To the Editor,

     I would like to let the voters in the Northwest R-1 School District know that they lost a valuable board member on April 6th.  He was dedicated to doing the best job for the district, with no personal agenda.  He was more than qualified for the position on the board, and an asset to the district statewide. His name is Nelson Weber.

     He was a life-long employee of McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing).  The first two decades there, he was involved with the beginning of the space program.  He designed on every one of the programs, starting with the Mercury/Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle (which will retire at the end of 2010).  His name (Nelson Weber) is inscribed on the Gemini Memorial Monument at KSC for his contribution to the program.  Nelson Weber also has numerous recognitions from all of the accomplishments through the years as the space programs progressed.  Both Nelson Weber and his wife Carol still follow these final four missions of the shuttle program, completing the construction of the Space Station.

     The final years with the company were spent as Senior Lead Design Specialist on the Harpoon Missile Project and F-15 & F-18 fighter jets.  This involved leading multi-million dollar contract negotiations involving the Navy, Air force and foreign governments on behalf of McDonnell Douglas / Boeing.  He has traveled all over the world in this role for the company.  Five trips to Japan, Greece, Spain – two trips to Israel and Malaysia. 

     After Nelson Weber retired from Boeing, he was re-hired as a consultant for another ten years at Boeing.  Mr. Weber was instrumental in the redesign of the F-18 E/F utilizing DFMA, a process of design to reduce the number of parts and speed assembly time, therefore saving the company money and boosting profits.  Mr. Weber also traveled to other companies here & abroad to conduct workshops using DFMA to achieve the same results for those companies.

     Then Mr. Weber actually retired again!  This time he ran for the NWR-1 school board in 2004 and was elected.  He has used his incredible skills to provide the best any man can possibly give to ensuring what is best for the children, administration and staff in the district.  Weber, being numbers oriented, and has been a fiscal watchdog for the past six years (2 terms).  This would have been his third term if not for the selfish vendetta & dirty politics of a fellow board member.  Fortunately, the friendships and bonds with all of the fine people he has worked with these past 6 years remain.

     Mr. Weber still remains on top of the district, and will not remain silent when he sees something unethical or wrong.  His ties to the people he’s worked with state wide and in Jefferson City has not been broken.  Mr. Weber believes that the tax payers deserve the best education for their children.

     I can only hope in the future, voters will learn to vote for the most qualified person, not the B.S. (Big signs!)  It only proves that an uninformed voter is more dangerous than the apathy of the registered voter.

Nancy Jordan
High Ridge