Paul Nelson, who made his Waldameer Park & Water World an Erie treasure, dies at 89

Paul Nelson, who delivered fun and thrills to generations of Erie residents and tourists as the owner of Waldameer Park & Water World, a once moribund collection of outdated rides that he transformed into a regional icon and recreational powerhouse yards away from the natural playlands of Presque Isle State Park and Lake Erie, died on Sunday.

He was 89. Nelson's family confirmed that he died at about 6:15 a.m. at UPMC Hamot.

Until the very end, Paul Nelson ran Waldameer like a big kid — maybe Erie's biggest kid.

As he pushed 90, he still roamed Waldameer daily, pacing the grounds with a walkie-talkie or tooling around in a golf cart. He grinned and laughed much of the time, but was always moving, as the Erie Times-News described him in a profile in May 2021. He was like a cross between Willy Wonka and Peter Pan — a larger-than-life character eternally dedicated to his realm of fun.

But Nelson was also a towering figure. He was one of the best-known business owners in the region, and his work at Waldameer earned him national renown among amusement park trade groups and aficionados of thrill rides.

Nelson saw giving back to Erie, through his devotion to his beloved park, as something of a duty.

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"I have a feeling and its deep within me that we owe this community an awful lot," Nelson said in 2015, when Waldameer won an Erie Times-News Commitment to Erie award.

A year earlier, Nelson himself had won the Commitment to Erie Legacy Award. He was honored for his foresight.

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"Nelson has continued to invest in the Erie area by expanding the park in ways that not only increase the viability of the park but also ensure that the legacy of Waldameer is here for generations to come," one of the Commitment to Erie judges said.

Waldameer is the 10th-oldest amusement park in the United States.

"This is my hobby, instead of golf," Nelson said in a 2015 interview. "My community is my hobby. I like Erie, I like my community, and I want to keep it that way."

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Growing up at an amusement park

Nelson grew up at Waldameer and never left.

He began working there at age 11 in 1945 for then-owner and family friend Alex Moeller, who went on to adopt Nelson and promise him the park. Nelson started out washing dishes and cleaning bathrooms and preparing picnics. He worked his way up to general manager and then took over the park when Moeller died in 1965.

Waldameer kept going in the 1960s and 1970s and into the mid-1980s, but Nelson said he felt the park, in Millcreek Township, had stalled. In an event that has become part of Erie lore, in the mid-1980s Nelson sold the wooden horses and other animals on Waldameer's historic carousel. The move raised $1 million, which Nelson invested in the park and used to help open Water World in 1986.

"If I hadn't done that, the park would never have grown," Nelson said in a 2019 interview.

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He replaced the old carousel with a less-expensive merry-go-round that has fiberglass animals and carries more riders.

Following the water park, Nelson added rides including the Sea Dragon in 1992, the 100-foot-tall Ferris Wheel in 1994, the Thunder River log flume in 1996, the Steel Dragon spinning coaster in 2004 and, in 2008, the much-anticipated and celebrated Ravine Flyer II wooden coaster that carries riders over Peninsula Drive. One of its biggest rides, the Rocket Blast, is set to open this summer.

More: Ever-evolving Water World expands appeal for Waldameer Park

A park Paul Nelson never wanted to get old

Nelson's strategy was to add improvements to the park every year, whether with a new ride or new landscaping or a new water feature. He loved tinkering with Waldameer like an automobile enthusiast loves assembling a classic car or a gardener loves planting a new flowering shrub.

"I don't do what I want to do," he said in an interview in 2021. "I do what the customer wants me to do."

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"We plan long range," he also said. "We put something big in every year. That keeps us in the public’s eye.”

If Nelson feared anything more than slowing down, it was the thought that his beloved amusement park would become stale and decline due to lack of interest in old rides.

Over the past three years, Nelson navigated Waldameer through the pandemic, one of the most difficult periods in the park's history.

In his final weeks, Nelson oversaw the installation and near completion of Waldameer's newest attraction — the $9 million Rocket Blast, the biggest investment in the park's history, a "water coaster" that features more than 800 feet of twists and turns.

In his final weeks, Nelson also oversaw a key purchase designed to make sure Waldameer has enough land to expand well into the future. Waldameer on May 1 bought the mobile home park located on both sides of the driveway that leads to the parking lot on the southwest corner of the park. The purchase price was $2.65 million.

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Waldameer, under Nelson, honored its origins as it expanded into the future. Nelson was proud to recount the history of the park, which opened under the Waldameer name in 1896 and celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2021.

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It was founded in the late 1800s as Hoffman's Grove, a secluded picnic spot overlooking Lake Erie just south of Presque Isle State Park, according to Waldameer's official history. The Erie Electric Motor Co., the city’s main trolley company, saw the grove as a recreation destination and a way to increase ridership on the weekends. The trolley company leased Hoffman’s grove in 1896 and renamed the land Waldameer, German for "woods by the sea."

Waldameer continued to grow, particularly under Alex Moeller, Nelson's adoptive father, who took over the management of the park in the 1920s. Moeller became the owner of the park in 1945, the same year he hired the 11-year-old Nelson.

Nelson nearly walked away from the park when he was 50. He said he tried to retire, but was in Florida only three weeks before he told his wife, Lane, that he had more to do at Waldameer. He returned to Erie and asked his bankers how much he could get in loans.

"I have been in debt ever since, but I enjoy it," Nelson said with a laugh as he recounted his near-retirement in an interview in 2015. "It makes you work a little harder. And I enjoy working with all the young kids."

Waldameer, for Paul Nelson, was always a family business

Nelson kept Waldameer a family business. Though the park now has more than 100 rides and other attractions, its management has stayed under the control of Nelson and his family. His wife handles human resources at the park, and their son-in-law Steve Gorman is the president and general manager of Waldameer, where he started working in 1995. Gorman's son, Brian Gorman, also helps run the park as vice president of operations.

Paul Nelson's survivors include three daughters, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Nelson, a resident of Fairview who was born on Oct. 7, 1933, also boasted an extended family of sorts. Waldameer has employed countless teenagers over the years, making Waldameer a dual engine for the local economy. Thousands of people visited his park each year to spend money, much of it used to pay the young workers who kept the park operating under his careful eye.

Nelson, known for his ready laugh and no-nonsense manner, engendered loyalty because no one worked as hard as he did.

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He was known to try out every new ride before Waldameer bought it. His favorite, he said, was the L. Ruth Express, the train named for his adoptive mother, Lydia Ruth Moeller.

Nelson was there when Waldameer opened for the day and as the train and the other rides started operating. He was there during the hot and crowded afternoons. He was there when Waldameer closed for the night, when its loudspeakers blared the 1950s classic, "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite."

"I love to work," Nelson said in an interview in August. "My wife has to tell me to go home every night."

Free admission to Waldameer was part of Paul Nelson's philosophy

Nelson also loved to work as an advocate for Erie. He was instrumental in furthering the region's tourism industry, and he was outspoken in his desire to make his park a place that was accessible to all.

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Nelson always said he had no plans to charge visitors for admission or charge for parking, an arrangement that makes Waldameer unusual among amusement parks. Visitors to Waldameer can walk in for free and buy nothing or lots of things, such as ride tickets and food while strolling the 60-acre grounds.

"I think it is very important, because I will tell you what happens: A lot of grandparents with little kids don't want to ride, or they will ride a couple rides," Nelson said of free admission in the 2019 interview.

Nelson said he was committed to letting as many people as possible use the park, a pledge he said means allowing visitors to get into the park for free and spend as little or as much as they want. Waldameer also lets visitors bring in their own food for picnics.

"I want the poorest family to be able to use my park," Nelson also said in 2019. He said he wants children especially to have the advantage of walking into Waldameer for free, just like anyone else.

When they are at Waldameer, Nelson said, "The kids don't know they are poor. That's how I like it."

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Nelson was also a dedicated member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Millcreek, where he was known for his generosity and support of ventures at St. Mark's and throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania. He was the diocese's former treasurer and in 2017 was awarded the diocese's Bishop's Cross, given to a person in the diocese who has shown dedicated service to parish, diocese and community.

"Paul's work ethic was legendary, and it was grounded in his deep faithfulness and profound sense of responsibility for our community and its people," said the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe, bishop of the Episcopal Dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York.

"His compassion and generosity spurred him to think creatively about how to use what he had been given for the good of his business, his church and his community," Rowe said. "As a leader in uncertain times, I have benefitted greatly from Paul's brave example, wise counsel and honest, straightforward conversation. I will miss him greatly."

The diocese said Nelson's funeral will be held on May 31 at 10 a.m. at St. Mark's, 4701 Old French Road. Rowe will preside and preach at the service. The Burton Quinn-Scott Cremation & Funeral Services is handling arrangements.

'Work for something you like to do'

As a businessman, Paul Nelson had an incredible run. Though the pandemic eroded Waldameer's revenue in 2020 and 2021, the park rebounded in 2022 with what Nelson called its best year ever.

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"I have run the park every year since I was 23. I am now 88," Nelson said in August as he described Waldameer's revenue trends. "I had increases every year except the last two years."

Nelson didn't live to see the opening of the park's most recent ride. But the ride will open and the park will go on, said Steve Gorman, the park's president.

"Waldameer will continue to be owned by Paul's family," Gorman said. "There are still three generations of the family operating the park. The park will continue as were Paul Nelson's wishes and vision. We want to continue the tradition of Waldameer serving the community."

"It's been an honor to work and learn alongside a true amusement park legend," Gorman said. "Paul will be missed by many in our industry and the Erie community."

As often as he took pride in Waldameer's success, Nelson was always quick to emphasize that money was not what drove him to go to work every day. He enjoyed his job, he said. He enjoyed helping other people enjoy themselves and have fun.

What more could Paul Nelson ask for?

"What I tell my kids: Don't work for money. Work for something you like to do," he said in 2021. "Usually, you will be a success if you are doing something that you like. But if you are looking for the bottom line, you're not going to be a success."

In a more recent interview, in February, he touched on how long his career at Waldameer might last.

"I love what I am doing," Nelson said. "I am going to do it until I die."

Staff writer Jim Martin contributed to this report.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

'Titan of tourism': Community leaders react to Paul Nelson's death

Nick Scott Sr., president of Erie's Scott Enterprises, which operates hotels, restaurants and Splash Lagoon Indoor Water Park, said he had known Nelson for years and that they used to play paddle tennis together as members of Kahkwa Club. More recently, the two would sit and chat when Nelson visited Oliver's Rooftop Restaurant, owned by Scott Enterprises.

"He was a passionate businessman who made things happen," Scott said. "I think he had a full life and doing what he loved every day. I am sorry to see his passing. But if you have to go at 89 and can be as active as he was right up until the end, I think that's a pretty good deal.'

Matt Greene, park operations manager for Presque Isle State Park, remembers one of the first times Nelson walked him through Waldameer. Nelson was more than 80 at the time and was talking about his 15-year plan, Greene said.

"Obviously we are shocked," Greene said. "Paul was one of those guys who was in perpetual motion, always trying to do better. Paul has always been all about Waldameer, but there has always been a piece of what Paul did that was aimed at the community. He and I had lots of talks about his park and Presque Isle and how important it was for people to be able to visit go no matter what their socio-economic status."

John Oliver, CEO of VisitErie, Erie County's tourism promotion agency, worked closely with Nelson, the owner of one of Erie County's most significant tourist attractions.

"Erie just lost one of their titans of tourism," Oliver said. "Paul was somebody who was actively involved in tourism for virtually his entire life. He was a trailblazer in the amusement park and outdoor water park industries, recognized nationally.

"The other thing was he had become a friend whose advice and counsel I will definitely miss."

Erie Mayor Joe Schember said he had known Nelson for more than 30 years.

"He made huge improvements to Waldameer. He was not doing it to makemoney. He wanted to entertain people and give people a good place to go with their family," Schember said.

“I remember him talking to me early on about some of the major changes he was making (to thepark). I didn’t say it out loud, but I wondered, ‘Is he going to be able to do this?’ And he did. He dideverything that he talked about."

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, of Butler, R-16th: "I'm devastated to hear about the loss of Mr. Nelson. He worked tirelessly to make Waldameer the community treasure that it is, and to give families across Northwest Pennsylvania affordable summer entertainment.

"I've personally been inspired by Mr. Nelson's passion, work ethic, steadfast faith, and desire to make the Erie community a better place. A few years ago, he showed me his 10-year plan to improve Waldameer and expand the park for future generations to enjoy. I think about that as we remember Mr. Nelson's life today. Paul Nelson will be greatly missed."

— Compiled by Jim Martin

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Paul Nelson, owner of Waldameer Park & Water World, dies at 89