Howard Nestingen was an officer in the Navy for 38 years. During his time in the military, he survived four trips across the Pacific Ocean on ammunition ships, and he served in occupied Japan after World War II.

When he returned home to La Crosse, he joined the Naval Reserve and was appointed commander for the Navy Reserve Officers School at the Naval Reserve Center on Green Bay Street. Although the building no longer stands, the center trained thousands of men from the area from 1949 to 2006. In the first 20 years alone, more than 3,200 men attended the Naval Reserve Center.

Outside of his position at the Naval Reserve Center, Nestingen was the public affairs coordinator for Dairyland Power Cooperative for many years, and he was influential in the creation of the nuclear power plant near Genoa. Nestingen also was a member of the United Way board of directors, a member of the board of trustees of La Crosse Lutheran Hospital, a founding member (with his wife) of Gundersen-Lutheran's Heritage Society fundraising foundation, longtime congregation president at English Lutheran Church, and was president of the La Crosse Optimist Club.