Joel E. Nordholm Jr.

Tilton Joel E. Nordholm, Jr. Joel E. Nordholm, Jr., 90, a longtime resident of Tilton, passed away on Thursday, January 4, 2018, at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton. His passing was peaceful. Joel was born on February 20, 1927, in Franklin. He was the son of Dr. Joel E. Nordholm, Sr., a dentist, and Beatrice (Horne) Nordholm, who was the Director of Music at Tilton School. They resided on Winter St., in Tilton. As a young boy, Joel was a member of the Tilton & Northfield Boys Drum Corps, when he was 3 years old, playing the drums. In July of 1945 he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy. He was discharged in 1946. He attended UNH and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1950. Upon graduation he moved to New York State to take a position as Associate Agricultural Agent for Lewis and Steuben counties. He married Elaine Irene Peterson, from Rochester, in 1951, whom he met while in college. They had two daughters, Susan Elaine, and Holly Jo, and moved back to New Hampshire in 1958, when Joel took a sales position with American Cyanamid Company. His territory eventually included NH, VT, ME, MA, CT, RI, and part of NY State after 10 years. He then became a New Hampshire County Agricultural Agent. He also taught school for a year in Claremont. Joel�s true passion had always been working with dogs, specifically raising, training, and racing Alaskan huskies. He signed his first AKC litter registration when he was only 12 years old. Working with these sled dogs continued throughout his life when he eventually sold the kennel to W. Averill Harriman�s family, but stayed on as breeder/trainer/racer. In 1960 he began to craft handmade wooden racing sleds to sell. In 1999 he represented the State of New Hampshire, as a certified Master Craftsman, at the Smithsonian Folklore Festival in Washington, DC. His wife, Elaine, predeceased him 25 years ago. His sister, Elaine Nordholm Leighton, also predeceased him. He is survived by his two daughters, Susan Elaine Nordholm, of Williamsburg, VA, and Holly Jo Dance, wife of Walter Forrest Dance, IV, of Carson, VA, and a nephew, Blaine Leighton, Jr., of Jacksonville, FL. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2018, at 1:00 pm, at the Tilton-Northfield United Methodist Church, located at 440 W. Main St., in Tilton. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton, where your donations will be specially earmarked for the baseball trips made possible through their Recreation Dept.