Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

February 5, 2024

CHARLOTTE – Eleanor Rathbone Nichols, 94, passed peacefully on February 5, 2024.

Eleanor was born on October 21, 1929, to the late Monroe Jackson Rathbone and Eleanor Groves Rathbone. She grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana while her father worked for Esso at the Baton Rouge Refinery. When her father was transferred to New Jersey, she attended Kent Place School for Girls and graduated in June 1947.

She enrolled at Duke University in 1947 and was captain of the women’s basketball team and a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. In 1948, she moved back home and attended Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School.

In 1947, her mother and future mother-in-law, Katherine Nichols, conspired for Bill and her to date and arranged for them to meet. They married in Bel Air, Maryland on November 21, 1948. She was the beloved wife of Bill Nichols, Sr. until his passing in 2015. In their sixty-six-year marriage, they lived in over twenty homes, traveled throughout the world, and doted on their four sons.

Wherever Bill and Eleanor lived, she volunteered. She was a den mother for thirteen years as all her sons joined Cub Scouts. In 1956, at age 27, the Junior League of Baton Rouge assigned her and others to write a cookbook. It became “River Road Recipes”; the first of four volumes; the first volume has been continuously published since 1959. The Nichols boys and Bill tested many recipes.

Eleanor loved cooking.  She took courses from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school.  Her favorite recipes included homemade mayonnaise; Toll House cookies; Swedish meatballs; Shrimp Creole; Meat Loaf with beef, pork & lamb; Beef Bourguignon; Beef Stroganoff; Chicken and Dumplings (the puffy kind not pastry); Spaghetti with Meat Sauce; Cream Dried Beef for Dad.  She subscribed to Gourmet magazine; she collected recipes from newspapers, magazines, and friends, and had three green metal file boxes overflowing with recipes.

She was an especially active League member in Charlotte, leading a committee for the operation of the Nature Museum. She continued her Junior League volunteerism in Houston, Los Angeles, and Dallas. When they retired to River Hills near Charlotte on Lake Wylie, she trained as an EMT and rode ambulances to assist those in crisis on the roads and in the water.

Her love of art was legendary. In every place they lived, she was active in some artistic endeavor. But in Charlotte, she became a docent in the Mint Museum for six years and became the preferred guide to the Delholm Gallery.

As Bill was transferred from town to town, Eleanor would add some more courses to her art history degree. In Houston, she took some courses at the University of Houston.  Her honors thesis was on The Elgin Marbles at the British Museum.

Eleanor especially loved china and pottery.  She collected Wedgewood and took a course in England at the Wedgewood estate. She also collected Staffordshire figurines, Limoges porcelain, and Sevres vases.  Later, she became fascinated by the native art of the U.S. West, South America, and Africa, and she collected pre-Columbian and Navaho pottery.

Eleanor and Bill loved tennis.  In Charlotte, they joined Olde Providence Racquet and Swim Club and taught their sons tennis.  After Bill retired, they regularly went to Texas with friends and played at the John Newcombe Ranch.

Eleanor and Bill loved to travel.  They sailed on the Queen Elizabeth, took a safari to Kenya, climbed Machu Picchu, visited Australia and New Zealand, made frequent visits to England, France, Spain, and Italy, visited Taiwan, China and many parts of Asia.  They took each son and wife on a dream trip to the countries of their choosing, which resulted in two trips to France, one to Spain and Portugal, and a Seabourne Cruise up the St. Lawrence River. As a young woman, she accompanied her parents in crossing the Atlantic on the USS United States.  The culmination of their travel was their 50^th Anniversary.  They took their four sons and wives on a Seabourne cruise of the Greek Islands and. Turkey. Athens, Delphi, Crete, Mykonos, Delos, Kuşadası, Ephesus, and Istanbul. Mark nicknamed it “The Golden Odessey” and made a treasured video of the trip.

In 2001, Eleanor and Bill were driving from Baton Rouge to Charlotte.  They stopped halfway in Montgomery, Alabama where Eleanor had two brain aneurysms. She was not expected to live through the night.  Her nephew, Dr. Richard Rathbone arranged for her transfer to the UAB Hospital in Birmingham.  Dr. Wink Fischer III performed a novel procedure with coils placed in her brain.  It was successful and she came out of her coma, allowing her to live another twenty-three years of life.  A year later, she was air transported to Charlotte. 

After a brief stay at their home in River Hills, Eleanor and Bill moved to The Cypress of Charlotte.  In 2010, she transferred to The Stewart Health Center where she lived the remainder of her life.  Until his death in 2015, Bill visited her every day and showered her with kindness.  She started calling him “Mr. Wonderful.”  She lived her last nine years with her pre-2001 memories intact, and with her wit possibly improved. 

Eleanor’s family would like to extend a special thank you to the nursing staff at The Stewart Health Center for their constant compassionate care over the years.

Eleanor is survived by her four sons, William Ayres “Bill” Nichols, Jr., Monroe Jackson “Jack” Nichols, Henry Rathbone “Chip” Nichols and Mark Adams Nichols. She was also the loving mother-in-law of Suzanne Nichols, Carol Spruill, Jennifer Nichols, Blair Nichols, and Lucinda Nichols. She was the beloved grandmother of ten grandchildren: William Ayres Nichols, III, (Kristina), Eleanor Nichols Starner (Stephen), Jackson Spruill Nichols (Jane), Charles Spruill Nichols (Julie Hafer), Billy Nichols (Katie Kline), Michael Nichols (Rebecca Morgan), Jeffrey Nichols (Taylor), Robin Nichols Bradley (Duncan), Grayson Nichols (Sarah Donnelly) and Kaitlin Nichols Drawdy (Josh).

She was blessed with eleven great grandchildren: Connor, Logan, Katelyn, Sara Grace, Sam, Lillie, Naya, Gemma, Oliver, Rose, and Sophie.

In addition to her parents and her husband, Bill Nichols, Sr., Eleanor was preceded in death by her brother, Dr. Monroe Jackson Rathbone and wife Barbara Faures Rathbone, and her daughter-in-law, Billie Nichols.

A memorial service for Eleanor will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, February 24, 2024, at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte.  The family will receive friends following the service at the church.  The service will be livestreamed at: https://www.christchurchcharlotte.org/funeral-live-broadcast/ for those unable to attend in person.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Eleanor’s memory may be sent to Christ Episcopal Church, 1412 Providence Road, Charlotte, NC 28207, or the Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Road, Charlotte, NC 28207.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28204 (704) 641-7606. Online condolences can be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.