Every man needs a mission. Merrill Nelson, the Peanut King, sold peanuts from his wheelchair in front of a procession of retail stores on Tyler Avenue, but he gave the community much more than peanuts.
Merrill K. Nelson, 83, died Friday, June 26, 2026. Born March 13, 1943, he lived his whole life with cerebral palsy. He started his peanut business in 1975. Within two years he was paying his own way.
The personality of a city is not held in its leadership alone. It lives in the familiar exceptions. Nelson was an institution, and an institution can rob a man of his personality. We can still tell his story.
Buying peanuts from him never felt like charity. As a kid it was a treat, and he was a superstar. His whole body smiled. And I thought he had cool hair.
His sales territory was the front walk on Tyler, outside the store that was Zody's, then HomeClub, then HomeBase and so on. The stores came and went. He stayed.
His sales pitch was on a recorded loop, but a hand made sign told his story: “I know that those who can work should!! Those who can but don't have a crippled spirit, and that is worse than having a crippled body. God made a paying job. I don't work hard: I work steady and long… it pays. This world can tie me down, but it can't keep me down!” Across the top ran Luke 1:37: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
The joy he showed in the work tells us how he wanted to be remembered: not for his hardship, but for his hard work. Work made harder by circumstance. With what he had, he built an enduring institution, and the service he provided went far beyond a sack of peanuts. In retrospect, the thing to know about him was how tough he was. The fact he was ever there proves he never took the easy way.
The well-worn path on the storefront concrete is now unrecognizable from the days when Merril Nelson was there. Decades later, many of us still think of that small strip on Tyler as belonging to the Peanut King.
He leaves his family and a whole city of friends.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Crest Avenue Baptist Church on July 8, 2026, at 2 p.m.
