Dorothy Nichols

Dorothy Mary Nichols, 99, died Nov. 11, 2007, at Elvie’s Home Care in Wasilla.

Viewing will be 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Valley Funeral Home, 151 E. Herning Avenue in Wasilla. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. at the Sunshine Seventh Day Adventist Church, Mile 4.4 Talkeetna Spur Road in Talkeetna. The Rev. Jim Kack will officiate. Interment will immediately follow at Talkeetna Cemetery with a potluck to follow at Sheldon Hangar in Talkeetna beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Pallbearers will be Todd McWhirter, grandsons Keith and David Bragg, and great-grandsons Rolland Bouslaugh and Richard Embry.

Nichols was born Sept. 9, 1908, in Franklin, Ind., completing the eighth grade before coming to Alaska in June 1950. She homesteaded in the Talkeetna area in 1959 and most recently lived in Wasilla. She worked as a cook and housekeeper for the Archdiocese of Anchorage for many years and was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church. She enjoyed long drives, attending church, baking chocolate chip cookies, church camps and spending time with family.

She loaded the family in a car in the summer of 1950 and drove the then fairly new Al-Can for a visit to Alaska, actually planning to make it a permanent move. She loved Alaska at first sight, eventually homesteading in Talkeetna, where she lived until about four years ago when she moved to the Houston area to be closer to family. Her cheerful invitation to “come on in” along with her never-empty cookie jar will be sorely missed by all.

Nichols is survived by daughters, Mona Carpenter of Bowling Green, Ky., Roxann Greene of Wasilla and Rosetta Nichols; grandsons, Charles Reddick of Anchorage, Todd McWhirter of Trapper Creek, Keith Bragg of Wasilla, David Bragg of Anchorage and Christopher Greene of Ft. Hood, Texas; granddaughters, Eunice McKinney of Anchorage, Sandra Cardwell of Bowling Green, Ky., Elizabeth Bouslaugh of Wasilla, Mary Hasson of Anchorage, and Kay and Leigh Hasson, both serving in the U.S. Air Force; 17 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Nichols; brother, Rolland Irwin; daughter, Ronda Hasson; and grandsons Joseph Ryan, Peter Hasson and Joseph Reddick.

Valley Funeral Homes and Crematory of Wasilla and Palmer are assisting the family.