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Joan (nee Whitehouse) Nicholas

Joan (nee Whitehouse) Nicholas, daughter of Mildred Keller Whitehouse and William Nelson Whitehouse and sister of William Keller Whitehouse and John Charles Whitehouse, was born in Walsenburg, CO on 09-02-1930 and died in Cincinnati, OH on 05-26-2023.

In between she grew up in Ottumwa, IA; earned a BS in Nursing from the University of Colorado and Denver General Hospital; met on a blind date and four years later married James R Nicholas on 06-14-1952; taught pediatric nursing at Indiana University Medical Center while Jim was in medical school; was a stay-at-home Mom in Hawaii and Cincinnati during her four children’s infancies and grade-school years (during which she earned an MS in sociology and was President of the North Avondale Neighborhood Association); was then Executive Director of the Visiting Nurse Association of Cincinnati (during which time she also earned an Executive MBA and was on the founding board of Hospice of Cincinnati); retired to a log cabin on Bear Island Lake in northern Minnesota, where she was a Hospice volunteer and an active member of the Ely United Methodist Church and of PEO; and returned to Cincinnati, where she met new PEO sisters and spent many joyful times with her children and grandchildren.

Her final months were more peaceful and fulfilling for her and for Jim because of the dedicated staff of Ohio Living Hospice.

Of all of her activities and achievements, the one that gave her the greatest sense of achievement and joy was her family: husband, Jim Nicholas; children Diana Nicholas Martin, Michael Nicholas (Gigi Minnette), Sherry Nicholas (Chris Hovde), and Mark Nicholas (Sharon Schrantz); and grandchildren Rachel, Nichole, Kimberly, Joseph, Alexandra, William, Michelle and John.

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