© Marietta Monitor
25 Jan 2019,  Page 4

She was born May 2, 1937 in Abilene, Kansas to Ralph Ira and Mary Eloise Taylor Clark. On May 20, 1959, she married Dr. David Nichols in Kay County. Together they raised three sons. As a young girl, Marilyn attended school in Abilene and graduated from Abilene High School in 1955. As a teenager, she was an accomplished horsewoman. She was a well-known trick rider. She basically taught herself this incredible skill and got up every morning before school to practice. She wore very fancy costumes, all handmade by her mother. She toured the country performing and that included a six-week engagement at Madison Square Garden as part of the Roy Rogers’ Rodeo in 1955. When she met Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, they presented her with a cigarette lighter which she kept her entire life. She attended Kansas State University, majoring in journalism. Before her health declined, she was an avid reader and writer. She had several articles published, one in Farm and Ranch magazine. While David was in the US Army, they moved to several different bases. Their last move was to Marietta in 1965. She worked diligently beside her husband at their veterinary clinic for many years. While in better health, she was a faithful attendee of Marietta First Baptist Church. She loved horses and raised cattle. She loved flowers, particularly the daffodils that surrounded her home; she beamed every spring while we all ooh’d and aah’d at their beauty. She enjoyed all birds and fed practically every species around. At times in her life, she cared for snakes, birds, geese, dogs, cats, horses, and cows. She was a wealth of information about them all. Marilyn was a very strong woman. She was independent minded, headstrong, passionate about her beliefs. She had a wonderful sense of humor. She was extremely patriotic. Many times she recalled watching airplanes fly over as a little girl in Kansas during World War II. Her grandfather, George Taylor, always told her they were working hard to win the war and that folks at home had to make sacrifices in order to help the war effort. She was so committed as a six-year-old that she donated her baby doll during a rubber collection drive. Her grandfather reminded her with each pass of an airplane that her doll was part of the rubber that made the tires on the airplanes that would win the war. The hole she leaves in the hearts and lives of her family and friends will never heal.

However, it is a comfort to us all that she no longer suffers, that she is reunited with so many relatives, that her earthly body has been made new and whole and that by God’s grace, we will all see her again.

Marilyn is survived by her three sons, Tod and Patsy of Marietta, Pete and Ashley of Ardmore, and Therron and Gael of Morris; her brother, Stan and Leeann Clark of Hesston, Kansas; grandchildren, Kayla Nichols, Shawn Nichols and wife Katie, Jacob Nichols and wife Elizabeth, Kate Nichols, Will Nichols, Jessa Nichols, Naomi Nichols and Garrett Nichols; and by Dr. David A. Nichols.

Services were held at 2 p.m. Saturday, January 9 in the Flanagan-Watts Funeral Home Chapel, Marietta, followed by interment at Lakeview Cemetery, Marietta.

Online guest book: wattsfuneralhome.com Flanagan-Watts

This obit includes a photo of Mrs. Nichols.