Obituary of Grace Nickless

We are here today to celebrate the life of Grace Nickless, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend. Our instructions in preparing this eulogy from Grace is that is should be light, personal and above all short. How we can say all that Grace had packed into her 75 years in a short story I don't know. She was born in Lloydminster on Bobbie Burns day 1931 to Bob and Francis Golightly, younger sister to Christina and passed away in the Lloydminster Hospital on Saturday, December 30, 2006. Growing up in the dirty thirty's gave her the ethic of hard work and playing just as hard. Many of her childhood friends are her today, in person and spirit. She had asked that her friends share those memories of their time together. Evelyn summed up saying "she was always their for me." She had so much love to give everyone, and always thought of others first. Grace had a lot of fun as a teenager, that is probably why she related so well to her children and grandchildren as teenagers. Not a good thing when you are the teenager coming in late, mom and dad seeing through every carefully rehearsed tale. When Grace got out of high school, she and Joyce Nelson now Calfas, took a vacation to England and Ireland via sailing ship Empress of France. She didn't give us too many specifics about this time except to say she had an awful lot of fun and considering the era, it was a very bold move for these two to make. It was the 1950's and 2 beautiful women were let loose on the world. In later years she and Harold travelled with other great friends, Grace and Paul Hesby. Together they lit up their little part of world, vieing for the title "Amazing Grace" . I'm not sure who won. She had taught school at Strathmore and worked in Winnipeg for a about a year and then worked at the Bank of Commerce in Lloydminster. She married the love of her life Harold on August 26, 1955. Moving to Alberfeldy where dad bought grain and mom continued at the bank, and did a little farming. They had Heather in 1956 and David in 1958. . In 1961 they starting farming at Streamstown and had Lance in 1962. The farm was their pride and joy. One of Grace's favourite times were on the tractor, pulling the combine. When she wasn't working by Harold's side she was involved in many things. She bonspielled, cross country skiied, attempted to teach each one of us to skate and was a member of the Streamstown ladies club for about 45 years. She never missed a chance to go dancing with Harold. There were many games of cards played around the kitchen table, that's why we are all good at math, and there were many long nights playing cards with friends, swapping stories. She was a born farmer. She took great pride in her garden and in her ability to grow beautiful flowers as well as bumper crops of vegetables, that is if the dogs didn't dig the flowers up for the bone meal or pick the peas. Of course, the pigs knew better than to go into her garden, so they had to satisfy themselves with digging up the lawn just before company came. One of her motto's and she had a lot of them was "to have a friend you have to be a friend" I think she epitimized "friend" no matter how uncomfortable a situation, Grace would always be there for her friends and for her family. Her zeal for life and having fun as well as making life fun for others. She always found the silver lining. She could give the best "one liners". One of her characteristics that even those who didn't know her well would comment on was how elegant and graceful and dignified she always looked. I found out today that her one liner for this was "Always dress as thou you are about to meet your future mother-in-law. She even made the mundane fun, by the way Heather tells me that Mantovani is the best music to do housework to. She enjoyed watching and playing all sorts of sports. She used to say that she didn't curl, she bonspieled and had a great time and was pretty good too. She learned to swim when her children did and often swam with her grandchildren. She taught her children and then her grandchildren how to ride a bike and how to drive properly, without dumping the dog on the floor. Grace was always her families greatest support, her confidence in all of us that we could do anything, and of course the boys were the greatest sports heroes especially hockey, ball and of course curling.. She and Harold had several years in Yuma which she loved. She could do her housework in 20 minutes and then they could go out to play. She always found the good in everyone and every situation. One of her favourite sayings was "I take care of the old and young, everyone else can take care of themselves" If she could bring a bit of joy or comfort to someone's day, she felt it was a good day, and she always made an effort to do that. She didn't care if something was "politically correct" She followed her heart, not allowing any malice into anything she did. Chris Benson once said to her "if you do something for the right reasons, it will be right." She firmly believed that and had no regrets. She was the definition of class and dignity and every inch a lady. She was well read and enjoyed all types of theatre (especially when her grandchildren were involved). Stage West was one of favourites, as well as Andrew Lloyd Weber Productions. Her granddaughter Shelley wrote her a note which she had kept which pretty much sums up how all her grandchildren thought of her. "Not everyone pays attention to our grandmother's advice but I do. You have been there and gone through everything I have. You listen, you help, you never gave up on me. You always stand behind me no matter what. When some things go wrong you always helped me through it. Your amazing wisdom goes on forever. All your speeches and lectures have a powerful meaning behind them. Grandmother's advice is the greatest advice given." Love always Shelley Grace Nickless. And as Rebecca says "she always smelled really good." Her faith in God was truly inspirational. She lived her faith in her own quiet way, drawing strength and acceptance through it. Any of us who were privy to this have seen how it brought her a state of grace (pardon the pun). She told us that she would be watching over us, giving us strength and the occasional kick in the pants when we need it. We all feel her presence here today. She took comfort in the fact that all her family were set upon their own life paths, the grandchildren grown up and in her words, headed in the right direction. She took pride in being a great grandmother to Koal. As she remarked a few weeks ago, the hardest part of having grandchildren was that she had to give them back to their parents once in a while. PS mom said she wanted to censor this. She said there was no point saying how nice she was because everyone already knew that. She always did have the last word, even if she made us think it was our idea. We will miss you Grace, you were indeed a grand lady. Until we meet again. Card of Thanks We would like to thank Dr. Gerber and the staff of the Palliative Care Ward at the Lloydminster Hospital. We would also like to that Dr. Lakins for givng the eulogy, Irene Knowlson and the United Church Choir for the music as well as Colleen Hozack for her solo and McCaw Funeral Service for their professionalism. Thank you all for your flowers, cards, donations, visits and most especially your prayers. Harold Nickless and family Donations in memory of Grace may be made to the Alberta Association for the Deaf, the Canadian Cancer Society or to the Lloydminster Hospital Palliative Care.