Ruth (McCain) Nichols (1923-2015)
NICHOLS, MCCAIN, SPRAGINS, STUBBS, HERMAN
Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 9/26/2015 at 14:23:45
From Stevens Memorial Chapel obituary, Ames, Story County, Iowa:
Ruth McCain Nichols, 92, passed away at Green Hills Health Care Center on September 18, 2015. Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at Stevens Memorial Chapel (607 28th St., Ames, IA 50010). Visitation will be on Monday, September 21, 2015 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Stevens Memorial Chapel. Burial will follow services in the Iowa State University cemetery.
Ruth McCain Nichols was born on August 12, 1923 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her parents were Melbourne G. McCain and Ruth Spragins McCain. Mrs. McCain taught school at Clarksdale High School and Mr. McCain was an accountant. Ruth attended school in Clarksdale, Mississippi and graduated from Clarksdale High School in 1941.
Ruth attended Mississippi State College for Women in Columbus, Mississippi and the University of Mississippi at Oxford. While at home from school in June of 1942, Ruth went on a blind date with Lt. Harold Nichols who was temporarily stationed in Clarksdale during WWII. A whirlwind courtship followed and on March 13, 1943, Ruth and Harold were married.
Harold was transferred to Hempstead, NY and in the years following they lived in Port Wentworth, GA, and again in Clarksdale. After WWII Harold received a job offer from Arkansas State College in Jonesboro, Arkansas to teach and coach. While at Arkansas State, he started a wrestling program.
Ruth and Harold were blessed with two children during these years, Harold James Nichols born July 27, 1945 in Hempstead, and William Charles Nichols born July 10, 1950 in Jonesboro.
In 1953 Harold was hired as the head wrestling coach at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa. Ruth's life was to forever change. In the next three decades she became to surrogate mother to hundreds of wrestlers at Iowa State. She attended all of the home wrestling meets and enjoyed traveling on wrestling trips to the NCAA tournament each year.
While in Ames, Ruth became involved in civic and church work. She was a member of Kappa Delta Phi, a Tri Delta Alumnae, and belonged to the Iowa State University Women's Club. She was also a member of Questers, PEO, Order of the Knoll, and the Evangelical Free Church.
Ruth took a special interest in genealogy. She traced her lineage back to the Civil and Revolutionary Wars and Harold's line back to the Mayflower. One of Ruth's relatives, William Spragins, was a Baptist minister and preached to freed slaves and Harold's relative, William Brewster, was the first pastor in New England in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Through her genealogy research she became a member of Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Confederacy.
Other than genealogy, Ruth loved gardening, working in the church, traveling, Iowa State wrestling meets, the wrestling fans, and had a special love for her grandchildren.
Ruth was preceded in death by her husband Harold J. Nichols and her brother Joseph McCain. She is survived by her two children, Harold James (Anna Marie) Nichols, William C (Robin) Nichols, and grandchildren Ruth (Nichols) Stubbs, David Nichols, Debbie (Nichols) Herman, Ian Nichols and Hannah Nichols.
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