Obituary of Mary Nichols

Mary Louise Fanning Nichols died on November 17, after 93 wonderful years. 

Thoughtful, immensely clever, caring, inspiring, and amazed at the world, she was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in the fall of 1931, daughter of a strong mother who immigrated from Ireland and a father who rose to be a Chief in the fire department. 

In 1956 she married Jim Nichols and they raised six children. Jim and Mary moved from Framingham, Massachusetts, to Minnesota in 1966. They would spend almost 60 years there, but not long enough for her to lose her Boston accent. For many of those years, they lived in Saint Paul where she taught her kids both the value of humor and the difference between “who” and “whom.”

Mary’s love of learning led her to go back to school in her sixties when she earned a master’s degree from the University of St. Thomas. She then returned to the classroom to teach middle school at St. Thomas Academy for many years. Many STA graduates over the years have told us how she inspired them to do their best – and sit up straight. They once voted her “most likely to choose the military as a career.”

Jim and Mary eventually moved to West Saint Paul and then Eagan, where they lived for many years before relocating to Lilydale Senior Living in 2023. She won the hearts of her many caregivers, and we are forever grateful to those who helped us care for her with great respect and true love.  

In addition to Jim, Mary is survived by her six children: Brian, Bill (Cindy), Tim (Lynn Gonsalves), Mike (Jane), Katie (Chris) Helstad and Maggie (Paul) Mahmood. She leaves behind 14 grandchildren: Kathleen Lohmar Excel (Steve Lohmar), Eva, Caitlin (Sam) Russ, Connor, Mollie, Antonia (Diego Choy), Isabel, Marlee (Matt) Franey, Jimmy, Jack, Hannah (Chance) Browning, Scott, Mary Kate and Nicholas; and seven great-grandchildren: Magdalene, Seraphina, Luke, Thomas, Grace, Patrick and Annie. 

A celebration of Mary’s life is being planned for a later date. As always, the gathering of family and friends will be filled with love, laughter, and possibly some goofy hats, but the life of the party will, for the first time, be missing.