Nichols had big impact on Madison community
MADISON — Lucille Nichols had a heart of gold and had an impact on the community beyond her five decades as the administrator of the Willard F. Bond Home/The Home Place, friends and family members said.
Nichols died Sunday, Aug. 1, at her home in Madison. She was 96.
“Everyone loved her, and she dedicated her entire life to the Bond Home," said Nichols’ daughter Anne Thompson. "She was a very loving and caring person and did everything she could to make sure the Bond Home succeeded. Everyone knew her from her hairstyle. She loved Madison, loved Mayor Mary, and the Bond Home was her life.”
Nichols was born on Dec. 14, 1924, to Charles and Willehmina Dunham in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. She moved to Madison in 1969 where she became the administrator of the William F. Bond Home and provided love and care to the residents until her death.
Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler was a lifelong close friend of Nichols, who took her and her brother in after their parents died and considered Hawkins-Butler her “special daughter.”
Hawkins-Butler said Nichols was her mentor, role model and second mother.
“Lucille Nichols was an amazing woman,” Hawkins-Butler said. “Her ministry was at the Bond Home. She practiced it there and brought in people to hear it. She’s one of the finest human beings that has ever walked the face of this earth.”
Hawkins-Butler said the thing she remembers most about Nichols is her involvement in the community and how she touched the lives of countless people.
“This place that we love, Madison, would never be what it is today without her influence,” Hawkins-Butler said. “She provided a home for people. One morning she found an elderly man in a wheelchair who had been placed at the front door of the Bond Home and had his name on his chest. Someone had left him there. She took him in and took care of him.”
Hawkins-Butler said Nichols strived to make residents of the Bond Home happy.
“She would take people right off the streets and give them a home,” she said. “She took me and my brother in when our mother and father died. She loved us, and she is the kind of person that everyone should strive to be. She knew nothing but love.”
Among Nichols’ accomplishments was serving on an advisory board for healthcare under President George W. Bush. She was honored by the Mississippi Health Care Association for 30 years of exemplary service and inspiration to the Long Term Care profession.
In addition, she was awarded Woman of the Year for Madison County, Businesswoman of the Year by the Business Advisory Council in Washington D.C., and was selected as one of the 10 Most Dynamic Women of the Mississippi Chamber of Commerce. She was a member of the Board of the Madison County Department of Human Services and a member of the 100 Club of Madison County. She was also awarded the Peggy Wilkes Award by the City of Madison Chamber of Commerce for her constant work of making positive changes in Madison, and The Nichols Center, a nursing facility in Madison, is named in her honor.
Helen Broockmann, a resident of Madison and a receptionist for Madison City Hall, knew Nichols well and said she cared for each of her Bond Home residents with the same love Jesus showed.
“Mrs. Nichols never lost her sense of fun or that twinkle in her eye despite serious responsibilities,” Broockmann said. “It was as though an angel was always at her shoulder. Unmistakably, she had a solid business sense and a mind like a steel trap to protect her beloved mission and ministry in life, the Bond Home.”
Nichols was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas O. Nichols, her father, Charles Lee Dunham, her mother, Willamena Weebking Dunham, and grandson, Jonathan LeGrand. She is survived by her daughters, Sherry Howell, Jennifer Anne Thompson, and Marsha LeGrand; grandchildren, John Eric Howell, Christopher LeGrand Jamie, and Thomas Craig Thompson; great-grandchildren, Nicholas Chase Thompson, Michael Catch Thompson, Reagan LeGrand, Luke Howell, and Samuel Howell; special son, Lee Hawkins and special daughter, Mary Hawkins-Butler.
Nichols' funeral is planned for 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at the Natchez Trace Funeral Home off of U.S. 51. Visitation is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5, and again one hour before the funeral service on Friday.
In lieu of flowers, memorials in Nichols’ name may be made to The Home Place, P.O. Box 720, Madison, MS 39130.