Nathen Wilson had an endless love for baseball. This passion started when he received his first plastic bat and ball at 18 months old. At the age of 3, he decided he would be a Yankee baseball player when he grew up. He verbalized this dream to his grandparents while riding to the zoo and passing by a little league ballfield.  

By age 5, he was old enough to play tee-ball. His mom signed him up, and it became a whole-family event for many years while he played at the little league level.

His papaw was his coach, and his mom was the team manager and the team mom for most of his Little League career. From the first time he stepped onto the tee ball field, he was set and determined. Nathen was a role model from day one. He wasn't there to pick flowers or play in the dirt. He had his hands on his knees and was ready to play ball. The field was his sanctuary.

Nathen played baseball from the age of 5 through high school, working harder and harder every year. Some injuries in high school kept him from playing in his junior and senior years, but that didn’t stop his dreams and aspirations. He was at every practice and every game, motivating his teammates even though he couldn’t be on the field.

Nathen wanted to go to college and planned to play baseball while in college. He applied to two colleges, but he already knew which of the two was his top choice. at a particular college. After being accepted into both colleges he applied to, he accepted the offer to his top choice, Christopher Newport University. This college was a few hours from his hometown, but where he was originally from and had many family and friends nearby. He was the perfect package for any college and coach; he was excited to attend college and hoped to get the opportunity to play ball. Nathen was a great athlete with the grades to enter Virginia’s Number 1 regional top-ranking public university; CNU is also Number 6 for the Best Regional Univeristy in the South.

While he didn't get to play ball at CNU because he was recovering from knee surgery,  he was hoping to play the following year. He was majoring in Kinesiology, but all he wanted to do was play baseball. He was still dreaming of being a New York Yankee one day.

During this time, Nathen met a local JUCO ball coach while working at Iron Asylum, a gym in Newport News, VA. The coach told him about a summer ball league in California. He looked into the league and wanted to go. He worked extra hours, got help from family, and raised the remainder of the money. 

In the summer of 2024, Nathen was living a 19-year-old baseball player's dream. He played for Power Summer Collegiate League (PSCL) in Palm Springs, CA. Here was a Virginia boy living his best life, getting to play baseball every day for the summer.

During this time, Nathen had a shoulder injury he was working through. He didn’t get to play as hard as he would have liked to, but he did his best, which helped get him looked at by a postgraduate collegiate program (CPG) in Palm Springs. This program was an excellent fit for him to help get his baseball skills up to the collegiate level he needed. He got to play on a couple of small travel teams during his junior and senior years because of his knee injuries. So he was so excited about this opportunity, a full year to play ball and try to get into a few online classes. He returned to VA after the PSCL was over and got to work on getting his stuff straight to return to Cali at the end of the summer.

He worked extra shifts at the gym, sold his truck, and got some help from family. Nathen was ready for this new big adventure. He knew it wouldn’t be easy; it would take much work. He had enough to cover a few months, which would help him get through the 1st few months while he would look for a job. His determination and never-give-up attitude prepared him to give it his all. He left Virginia early to get ahead and start finding a job. He stayed with a friend and the friend's mom, a guy he met and had a close friendship with from the summer league. He finally got moved into his apartment and met his three roommates.    After moving to Palm Springs, he realized he needed transportation and bought a cheap motorcycle to help him get around without spending much on gas. He only had the motorcycle for almost a month when he went out for a drive. He had just lost one of his best friends to cancer. He was struggling not being able to afford to come back to Virginia for the funeral. Two days after his friend's death, Nathen went for a ride to clear his mind and rode to his favorite place in the city. After leaving this spot, he was on his way back home, a few blocks from his apartment, when he was tragically struck by a vehicle while riding his motorcycle. This awful accident took our Nathen from us only after 2 months after being back in Palm Springs.  

Nathen had an everlasting love for our Lord and Savior that he attained on his own. He wasn’t raised going to church starting at birth. He is from a Christian-based family, but they didn’t frequent a church when he was little. Early in his life, he would attend vacation bible schools during the summer and an occasional Sunday school service.

It wasn’t until 2015 that Nathen and his family moved to a little town in Virginia named Huddleston.  This little vacation town, a popular lake area, has a lot of faith and love throughout the community. Living in Huddleston and the surrounding area helped Nathen find his faith and his love for the Lord.  He, his little brother, and his mom periodically attended an occasional Sunday service.  He and his little brother would attend Wednesday church and eventually attended weekly youth groups.  He attended one youth group trip to North Carolina while in middle school. On this trip, he endured the next level of being a Christian.  

He attended the same church regularly until he started driving. That’s when he found another nearby church he and his friends regularly attended for the last few years of high school.  

When he left his hometown and moved to Newport News to attend college at CNU, he found a local church through his mom. So they started going to Alive Church in a nearby city. He found his love there and dove into small groups and the church. His everlasting love of the Lord was shown in many ways. Even while he was in Palm Springs, he still watched his church online. 

After Nathen’s passing, his family learned that his love for the Lord was much greater than they knew. He shared his gospel with others who were around him. His gym buddies, teammates, new and long-time friends, parents of players, and parents of friends told the family how abundant his love for the Lord was. They all knew his faith in the Lord was on point.