Ruth Frances Nichols

Age 95, passed away in Eureka on November 22, 2011. She was born on July 12, 1916 to Henry E. and Effie E. Barnes in Parkston, South Dakota. The family moved to South Sioux City, Nebraska when she was 3.

Ruth had a keen interest and gift in playing the piano and taught herself. She accompanied the school choir and also played the piano for Our Saviors Lutheran Church of which she was a member. This gift would serve her well throughout her life. Ruth graduated from high school in 1934 and obtained a job at the Armour & Company meat packing company where she met her future husband, William Wallace (Wally) Nichols. Wally hitched rides on freight trains and headed to Ferndale to find a job which he did as a ranch hand at a local dairy farm and asked Ruth to join him.

Ruth left Nebraska when she was 19 years old and traveled by coach train with no bed and little food and arrived several days later in Ferndale. Being a proper lady, she stayed with Wally's sister Ilone and her husband Bill Miller until she and Wally married a few days later on November 14, 1935. Ruth delivered her first child, Ruth Marlene, on May 1, 1938 in a ranch house on the outskirts of Ferndale in which she and Wally lived. Her second child, William Floyd, was delivered at St Joseph hospital in Eureka on September 17, 1940. During WW II the family lived in Scotia where Wally worked for the Pacific Lumber Company and Ruth played the piano for the Jack Tipple Trio which played for many dances in the area.

Following the war, Ruth and Wally returned to Ferndale and spent the next 5 years on a dairy farm. She also continued to play for dances with Mac Armstrong and his band. Their third child, Constance (Connie) Darling was born in the Scotia Hospital on July 8, 1950. The family moved to Redway in 1952 where Wally accepted a job in a local lumber mill. Shortly, Ruth joined the band of Ted Tucker and this band played together for many dances into the early 1960's. Ted Tucker was a prominent business man of Garberville and a member of the local Rotary Club. On one occasion he asked Ruth to attend the weekly luncheon to play the piano while the members sang. She accepted and this started a date that lasted almost 20 years. Ruth became an honorary Rotarian long before women were allowed to become members. In 1957 Wally and Ruth purchased the Chevron Service Station in Garberville.

In addition to helping out at the service station, Ruth became the correspondent for the Eureka Humboldt Times for the Southern Humboldt area. She was the voice of the this area for over 15 years and had many, many "By-Lines". In 1965 Wally and Ruth purchased the Dinnell's Redwood Burl and Gift Shop in Garberville. This continued until their retirement in 1980 when they sold the business and moved back to Redway on 3½acres of land where they maintained a big vegetable garden. Among the crops grown were cukes for pickles which they sold and some of which Ruth made into her famous "Nichols Pickles". In 1995 her husband, friend, and partner died after having been together for almost 62 years. Ruth rebuilt her life and continued her activities. She was an avid golfer and once scored a "hole-in-one".

She was a member of the Benbow Women's Golf Club. She was a member of the Garberville Chapter of the Ladies Civic Club, serving on the Board of Directors several times. She was a member of the Grace Lutheran Church of Redway, a member of its Board of Directors, and served as the Secretary. Needless to say she played the piano for the congregation as needed.

Ruth is preceded in death by her husband Wally Nichols, her daughter Connie Nichols, her daughter Marlene McGrath, and her granddaughter Jolene Johnson.

She is survived by her brother Floyd Barnes and wife Marie of Riverside, CA, sister Marlys Antrim of South Sioux City, NE, son Floyd Nichols of Seattle, WA, great granddaughter Jeannie Gillespie and great Grandson Brian Johnson and wife Jessica of Eureka, CA and several great, great grandchildren.

Viewing: Thursday, December 8, 2011 at Pierce Mortuary, 707 H Street, Eureka, 10 -12. A graveside service will be held at Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery, 4325 Broadway, Eureka, at 2:00PM. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2011 at the Grace Lutheran Church 90 Rusk Lane, Redway, at 1 PM followed by a reception.

In lieu of flowers Ruth requested that donations be made to the American Diabetes Association or the Eureka National MS Society.

Please sign the guest book at www.Times-Standard.com, click obits.

Arrangements under the direction of Pierce Mortuary, Eureka, CA.