Newsmakers: Dakota Nelson, young father of 7, shares lessons he's learned since his wife's sudden death - East Idaho News
East Idaho Newsmakers

Newsmakers: Dakota Nelson, young father of 7, shares lessons he’s learned since his wife’s sudden death

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In this edition of East Idaho Newsmakers, Nate Eaton speaks with Dakota Nelson.

Dakota’s wife, Ream, passed away last year leaving the young father to care for seven children. He’s an LDS seminary teacher at North Fremont High School in Ashton and the EastIdahoNews.com team surprised him with a $10,000 gift from Secret Santa before Christmas.

Dakota’s touching reaction to the surprise has now been seen tens of millions of times on EastIdahoNews.com, Facebook, YouTube and dozens of other websites. He says he was overwhelmed with the reaction and has received messages of support from around the world. At one point, he was getting 800 friend requests a day on Facebook.

RELATED | Young father of 7, whose wife collapsed and died, left speechless during Secret Santa surprise

RELATED | Young widower with 7 children pens touching letter to Secret Santa

During their conversation, Dakota explains Ream’s interesting family history (she comes from Saudi Arabian royalty), what happened the day she collapsed in their garage, how the family is coping with the outpouring of love and what he’s learned since Ream’s passing.

Watch the video above for the entire conversation.

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