Wilhelmina Van der Kuip Nichols

Wilhelmina Van der Kuip Nichols

April 10, 1936 – June 10, 2020

Wilhelmina Nichols, beloved mother, teacher, and musician, passed away June 10 at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, MN, of cardiac arrest. She was 84.

Wilhelmina, known to all as Wil, had a big personality and a bigger heart. A survivor of WWII Netherlands, where her family sheltered Jewish families, and later, Polish soldiers, Wil grew up to devote her life to education, parenting, and mentoring children and young people. Friends in her daughters’ generation and younger called her Mom or Oma, because she couldn’t avoid being a loving mother to all young people she met. She was a talented alto and could always be heard singing classical music or hymns around the house, often changing the words to suit her moods and her famous satirical sense of humor.  She cooked delicious meals and taught her daughters how to do the same, but that was only one of the brilliant skills she passed down, which included music, reading, writing, analytical thinking, love, social justice, confidence, faith, and compassion. She was a voracious reader of literature and current events, and was famous for telling fascinating stories from her eventful life, often making her listeners laugh, no matter how dark the tale. She could spot B.S. and injustice a mile away, and she never let anyone get away with it. Mean people and bullies didn’t stand a chance against her laser-sharp perception, incisive arguing skills, and fierce advocacy for anyone being persecuted or mistreated. She brought her scholarly talents to her Christian faith, and studied New Testament Greek in midlife.

Wil earned a Master’s degree in Montessori education in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and taught there until 1962, when she came to America to train new teachers. She met and married Larry Nichols in 1963 in San Antonio, Texas. She was fluent in four languages, earned a Master’s degree in German at the University of Iowa while raising two teenage daughters and a foster daughter, then taught German at high schools in Iowa and (after 1989) in eastern Wisconsin. At Lincoln High in Manitowoc, WI, even  though she was a substitute teacher, she was voted Teacher of the Year. In 1998, she and Larry moved to the Minneapolis area.

Wil is survived by her husband, Larry Nichols of Maple Grove, MN; two daughters, Deirdre (Nichols) Rasmussen of Green Bay and Heather Saskia Nichols of New Richmond, WI; a foster daughter, Jane Caldwell of Washington, PA; three grandchildren; siblings, nieces and nephews overseas. Family, friends, and former students around the world will always miss her affection, brilliance, and wit, but she will live on in our hearts. The world has lost a warm, bright light.

Memorial services TBA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that those who feel so inclined send a donation to support their local school music and/or arts programs. Thank you.