BRUNSWICK — Ellen Ford Nichols died peacefully on Saturday, May 2, 2015, at the Mid Coast Senior Health Center in Brunswick, ME. Born in New York City on Feb. 13, 1926, to the late Keyo Tetsuka and Clement Royal Ford, Ellen was the second of four children, lived in New York City, Stuart, FL, and Sharon, CT and was educated at the Chapin School, NYC; St. Timothy’s School, Catonsville, MD; and Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA, class of 1948.
Mononucleosis forced her to drop out of Radcliffe in her sophomore year and shortly thereafter she married the late C. Ernest Swigert of Portland, OR. They divorced a couple of years later. In 1954, she married H. Gilman Nichols Jr. and so began a 61-year affair that included four children, numerous dogs, ducks, turtles, hamsters and the occasional rescued critter.
Living on Cape Ann, MA, with summers on North Haven Island, she became an accomplished mariner while cruising the coast of Maine. During that time, Ellen also taught skiing at Hamilton Hill in MA and volunteered at the archaeological dig at the Turner Hill Farm on North Haven. This inspired her to go back to college in the 1970s to pursue a degree in archaeology and spend several years working at the Late Stone Age site Abri Pataud, in the Dordogne, France.
She was among the first volunteers for the newly formed Hospice of the North Shore in the 1980s, eventually serving on the board and a term as its president. She also served many years on the board of Gould Farm in Monterey, MA, taking great interest in the farm’s work in mental health. A talented artist and creator, mediums ran the gamut from ink to gold leaf to clay to stone and included collections of anything owl, musk ox, frog and stone.
Ellen was predeceased in 2000 by her daughter Francie S.N. Finlay, followed by her sister Keyo F. Russell in 2010.
Surviving are husband Gimmy of Brunswick; daughter Liza Nichols and husband Bo Chesney of Pownal, ME; son Nibs and wife Polly Nichols of Pownal; son Caleb and wife April Nichols of Wilmington, MA; her adored grandchildren Page, Kelsey, Simon, Henry and Piper; her sister Martha Hoar of VT; sister Phyllis Ford of TX and many nieces and nephews.
The family is enormously grateful to the devoted and caring staff, one and all, at Mid Coast’s Bodwell Rehabilitation during these past weeks. That she apparently had an appreciative audience for her stories and quips made her long stay there all the more comfortable.
A memorial service will be held for Ellen at a later date in North Haven. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the North Haven Conservation Partners, P.O. Box 336, North Haven, ME 04853 and Gould Farm, P.O. Box 157, Monterey, MA 01245-0157. Memories and condolences can be expressed at www.brackettfuneralhome.com.
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