Nelson was born March 20, 1906 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was the second son of Ethel Irene (nee Orr) and George Waldemar Nelson. His paternal grandparents were Swedish and his mother was of English descent. Nelson was raised in Ridgefield Park where he was active in Scouting, earning the rank of Eagle Scout at age 13.

In the 1940s, Nelson began to look for a way to spend more time with his family, especially his growing sons. Besides band appearances, he and Harriet had been regulars on Red Skelton's radio show. He developed and produced his own radio series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. The show went on the air in 1944, with their sons played by actors until 1949, and in 1952 it moved over to television (the radio version continued for another two years). The TV show starred the entire family, and America watched Ozzie and Harriet raise their boys. The last television episode aired in 1966. Nelson was producer and director of most of the episodes, and co-wrote many of them. Nelson's brother Don Nelson, was also one of the writers. Ozzie was very hands-on and involved with every aspect of the radio and TV programs. (It's notable that throughout the 1950s, Ozzie's prior bandleading and Harriet's singing career was seldom mentioned. The younger audience would have had no idea that Ozzie and Harriet had previously been involved in music.)  He appeared as a guest panelist on the June 9, 1957, episode of What's My Line?  His last television show was in the fall of 1973 and entitled Ozzie's Girls, and lasted for a year in first-run syndication. The premise was Ozzie and Harriet renting their sons' former room to two college girls (one caucasian, one African American), and concerned the Nelsons' efforts at adjusting to living with two young women, after having raised two sons. Answer this question using a quote from the following article:

was he married?