Dorchester Times: Dorchester's Gayle Nichols Passes At 63

Friday, January 2, 2015

Dorchester's Gayle Nichols Passes At 63

A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, 2015 at Milford Mennonite Church with Pastors Tim Springer and Doug Witzke officiating. Interment will be in the Milford Mennonite Cemetery, Milford. Visitation will be Sunday, 1-5 pm at Lauber-Moore Funeral Home, Milford and from 6-8 p.m. with the family greeting relatives and friends at Milford Mennonite Church. Memorials in lieu of flowers have been established to Garden Square and Region V both of Crete.

Gayle Lynne Nichols was born Oct. 7, 1951 in Friend to Harold and Norma (Johnson) Stutzman, the first of seven children. She was received unto the Lord on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 at the Bryan Health Center in Lincoln following her courageous battle with breast cancer. As a young girl, Gayle attended Friend Public School, graduating with her class in 1969. Gayle was employed as a caregiver at the Friend Manor until her marriage to Gary Nichols on October 10, 1970 at Milford Mennonite Church. To this union five children were born: Pamela Kay, Penelope Jane, Timothy Lee, Jessica Gayle and Andrew James.

Together they made their home in Friend before moving to Dorchester in 1978. Gayle provided transportation for children with special needs to and from the Geneva Success III program for nearly 25 years. She was an avid volunteer at Garden Square in Crete for 16 years where she played gospel music on her accordion.

Gayle was a loving mother and wife, an excellent cook and was always a supporter of her family whenever needed. She was faithful, compassionate, patient, giving and loving caregiver to all members of her family and friends.

She was baptized at Milford Mennonite Church and attended Cornerstone Bible Church in Crete for the last 20 years. Gayle loved her Lord and was a wonderful example of Christlikeness.

Gayle is survived by her husband, Gary, Dorchester, her children and spouses, Pamela and James Goddard, Longmont, CO, Penelope “Penny” Keller, Dorchester, Timothy Nichols, Dorchester, Jessica and Cyrill “Bob” Kovar, Omaha, Andrew and Bethany Nichols, Pickrell; seven grandchildren, Jordan Keller, Tyler Goddard, Jacob Keller, Hannah, Haley, Haidyn, and Huntley Nichols; mother, Norma Stutzman; brothers and sisters-in-law, Mark and Gretta Stutzman, Friend, Dave and Shane Stutzman, Friend, Jack and Chris Stutzman, Friend, Harve and Mary Stutzman, Milford; sisters and brothers-in-law, Pat and Brad Stauffer, Milford, Lisa and Chris Wells, Friend; sister-in-law, Charlene Nichols, Ephrata, PA; numerous nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, her father, Harold Stutzman; and parents-in-law, Charles and Macie Nichols.

Words of sympathy may be left here.

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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."