Paula Gayle Nicholas

One of her favorite hymns, Make Me A Servant, speaks as an eloquent memorial to her life: Make me a servant, humble and meek; Lord let me lift up those who are weak; and may the prayer of my heart always be; make me a servant today. In her 68 years of life, Paula epitomized the concept of servant ministry including teaching first graders in Central Ohio, taking meals to seniors and home-bound patients in Southern Colorado, and coordinating outreach opportunities through a church in Springfield, Virginia.

Paula was always eager to share whatever she had with others in order to brighten and ease the lives around her. She kept track of the many birthdays, wedding anniversaries and other notable achievements of family and friends, often surprising children at church with thoughtful gifts and putting together craft projects for her nieces and nephews to enjoy at family gatherings. One Christmas, she made and donated over 300 hand-crocheted hats to a local shelter, using a yarn stash she had cultivated over years of making afghans for others.

Over the course of her life, Paula suffered much loss and heartbreak, including the loss of her beloved husband in 2015 and breast cancer that returned after several years in remission, but she never let the world wear her down and turn her bitter. Instead, she opted to use her experiences to encourage and lift up others, working with metastatic cancer support groups to encourage others to learn more about their disease and treatment, and process through their own emotions.

Paula is preceded in death by her husband, David, her parents Paul Steele and Mary Lou Wolfe, and siblings Gidget and Pat. She is survived by her daughter Heather and son-in-law Frank, daughter Megan and son-in-law Robert, son Andrew, grandsons Joseph and Samuel, her sisters-in-spirit, Leona and Eva, and many beloved family and friends.

True to form, Paula requested that no formal funeral or memorial services be carried out. Family asks that, in lieu of flowers, loved ones reach out in the spirit of Paula and carry out a quiet act of service to others.