In Memory of Vernon Nichols (February 6, 1932 – September 11, 2020)

Vernon Charles Nichols was born on February 6, 1932 in Fort Covington, New York to Bertha N. and Vernon C. Nichols. He was raised Methodist and grew up in New York rather than his parents’ home of North Carolina because his father, a Methodist minister, did not want to serve congregations in the segregated South.

As a young teenager, Vern was deeply moved by the nuclear bombings of Japan. Even at that early age, he confirmed his commitment to pacifism: a choice and way of being that would define his professional life.

Vernon attended Syracuse University where, in 1950, he met Susan Radcliff. Vern graduated in 1953 and in 1954, after Sue’s graduation, they married. Vern went on to receive his Bachelor of Sacred Theology (S.T.B.) degree in 1956 and his Master of Sacred Theology (S.T.M.) degree in Pastoral Psychology, from Boston University, in 1957.

Rev. Nichols was ordained in 1956, and from 1957 to 1959 he served the Methodist Church in Alexandria Bay/Redwood, NY. He went on to serve the Community Methodist Church of Ozone Park (NY) until 1964. In 1963 Rev. Nichols began serving as chaplain at City Hospital at Elmhurst.

For a while, Rev. Nichols thought that he would like to teach World Religions on the college level, so he enrolled at NYU for a Ph.D. program. But after returning to graduate studies (again), he decided that he was really a minister. However, he felt constrained by Methodist theology and its lack of “free inquiry.” Rev. Nichols had already been encouraged to pursue ministry within the Unitarian Universalist Association, was attracted by its forward-facing stance, and made inquiries in 1966. He gained fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1967.

Within Unitarian Universalism, Rev. Nichols served as Assistant Minister to the Plandome Congregation (now the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, NY) from 1967 until 1971, when he was called to his longest ministry: the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa (Ontario), Canada, where he served until 1983. During Rev. Nichol’s ministry the congregation used some of their property to build a senior residence open to any eligible applicant regardless of religious affiliation. This facility has become an important Ottawa institution.

Rev. Nichols next served in the Universalist Church of West Hartford CT, for a year—because in 1984, he responded to a critical need at the Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Southfield, MI). After a year in the Detroit area, Rev. Nichols and his wife Sue were hired to head the Unitarian Universalist Office at the United Nations. It was a natural fit, given their longtime and informal partnership in the parish, and due to their longtime commitment to justice, peace, and nuclear disarmament. In the words of one of their sons, in this role his father pursued “a dream of a world that invests in its people rather than weaponry.” Sue and Vernon’s co-director arrangement, in which each served half-time, allowed Rev. Nichols to accept the many requests he received to officiate weddings.

At the UU Office at the UN, Rev. Nichols and Sue worked with other like-minded organizations, including the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, with which he had cultivated a long relationship. The couple was able to “create more together than they could separately,” one of their three sons recalls, in what he describes as “the synergistic effect of two people working to make the world a better place day after day, year after year, decade after decade.” Over the years, Rev. Nichols made seven trips to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan—always very sad but meaningful visits—to participate in their annual memorials of the 1945 nuclear bombings of those cities. On one occasion, he was arrested for “trespassing on US Government Property” when protesting nuclear bomb testing.

In 1993, Vernon and Sue retired formally, but continued their service to their ideals. Vernon served as President of the UN’s NGO committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security.

In 2018, Vernon and Sue moved to Portland, OR to be closer to family.

Vernon was recognized by friends and colleagues as carrying a quiet thoughtfulness and being a “peacemaker.” He had a special gift for preaching and encouraging people to work together toward common goals. “He led by example, full of compassion, full of love,” one of his sons recalled.

Underlying his principles was a man who loved to travel and entertain; a “punster extraordinaire” who also made frequent literary references. His family remembers him as taking them to the beach and circus as well as to vigils in protest of the Vietnam War, and on road trips to the mountains. They also remember his enjoyment of Rowe Camp, where Vernon served as director of the junior high program for a couple of summers.

“I always wondered how he was able to keep his cup so full, that he was always able to pour more sweetness and more love on his family members, as well as those he had never met before,” noted one of his grandchildren.

Vernon died peacefully with much appreciated help from Hospice at his home in Portland on September 11, 2020.

Vernon is survived by his wife, Susan (Sue); sons Howard Vernon, George Martin, and Peter John; and grandchildren Matthew Griffin, Hope Radcliff, and Stephen Vernon David.

An online memorial service was broadcast from the Eliot Chapel of the First Unitarian Church, Portland (OR) on October 3, 2020.