I was very blessed to grow up surrounded
by her warmth and love. She taught me
about love through her example and that continues to inspire me. I remember sitting on the porch with my
sister while Mom read to us from our favorite books. When we were able to read for ourselves she
always made sure there were books in the house.
She would take us to the library and knew all our favorite authors. She also volunteered at the school library
and encouraged my friends to read by finding books that would interest them.
When I grew up and moved away from Los
Angeles, she visited me in various places where I lived – Arcata, Boise, Spokane,
Helena, Missoula and Madison. We also traveled
together to my favorite place in the universe – the Canadian Rockies. At age 76, she flew from Los Angeles to
Indianapolis to meet me there at a Global Ministries conference when I was
living in Colombia. Throughout all those
years, her home was always a refuge for me – stocked with my favorite foods and
filled with her love. It feels very
strange to be here this morning without her.
We shared a deep love for nature and a few
years ago I found some prose she had written for a high school English
class. “Looking into the sky on a calm,
cloudless night, can give me an achingly sweet sensation. I realize that nature and the universe are so
big and overpowering that they have the ability to calm my ruffled thoughts and
leave me at peace with myself. It always
helps me to turn to nature, because that way I feel closer to God and to
complete happiness.”
I called Mom on February 11 to tell her
about the snow that was falling in Nogales that evening. It brought back memories of her childhood in
Lake Bluff, Illinois and she talked about catching snowflakes on her
tongue. I called her the following
evening and she chided me for not having tried that myself. As we hung up, she told me “I love you Scott
Douglas” – just like she did when I was a kid.
It seemed like she knew, in some way, that her life was coming to the
end.
As I told her yesterday, “I love you very
much, I’m very grateful, and you can just let go.”
In loving memory of Helen Nicholson,
From her son, Scott
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| Mom, at age 14, at her favorite spot overlooking Lake Michigan |
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| Mom, at age 81, watching the waves crash on the rocks at Cambria, California |
