A TRIBUTE TO A FRIEND

Pat called. I hadn’t seen her much during the pandemic. Sometimes, like this day, she would pull into my driveway, phone my cell, and say, “Are you home? Can we meet on the deck?” and we’d sit on my back deck surrounded by the flowers, the hummingbirds, the sunshine and the ominous threat of an unseen virus.

Pat’s housesitting jobs had dried up with the onset of the travel ban and she was staying with a friend we had met on one of our latest adventures. Dorothy had a spare room where her grandchildren usually slept when they visited from the Mainland. They wouldn’t be visiting until the pandemic was over. Pat was having fun at Dorothy’s, despite the conditions that were happening all around the world and the threat they would happen in our beautiful city. That’s what Pat did. She found the upside of the world.

I remember a day in 1999, when I had returned to my hometown after being away for 30 years. A mutual friend had suggested I talk to Pat Nichol, who knew everyone, in my job search. I sent this unknown woman my resume, said that Maureen suggested she might be able help me find a job and could we meet to discuss. Pat had a part-time job at Bolen Books, so we met on her break in the food court. It wasn’t too long before she started popping in for a chat. I did find a job and my office was in my home. I needed volunteers for the project I was working on, and Pat volunteered and was popular with the groups.

And that was how our 22-year friendship began. She’d phone me up and say, I’m doing some work with… why don’t you come with me. We did that with the Tall Ships Festival, a political campaign, the Breakfast Group, housesitting and other assorted events and groups. She got my husband involved in things, too, including the Jazz Festival and Blues Bash.

When she was sitting on my back deck one afternoon, I asked her to talk to the women’s group at my church. “We are going to do it over this program we have just discovered called Zoom. You can be in your living room talking to the group.” For Pat, this was a new adventure, and we muddled through Zoom, and the 30 women who attended our first Zoom meeting thought it was great. No, everything didn’t go as planned but that was part of the fun of it.

Pat called me not too long ago, too cold to sit on the deck, we had resorted to phone conversations only. “I have something to tell you,” she said, and that was when I heard the words “cancer” and “Pat” in the same sentence. At first, they thought it was just an infection. “I was helping Dorothy decorate the Christmas tree and I felt these pains in my stomach. I thought, I won’t be around next Christmas to do this,” she said.

It all evolved into the kind of news none of us want to hear. “I wrote about it in my column.” Of course, she did. INSPIRED Magazine readers are one of her most beloved groups.

When I visited her yesterday, she was struggling to focus, but she held my hand, smiled a bit, and as I looked at her with that bright streak of purple in her hair, I knew I had been fortunate to have had her in my life for 22 years.

I knew then she wouldn’t be here for much longer. Pat didn’t fear death. She told me she was blessed to be given time to say good-bye to her family and friends. Oh, I am going to miss you, Pat.

Editor’s Note: Pat Nichol passed away on Monday, February 8. While our hearts are heavy, we feel comforted by Pat’s words and wisdom in all the columns she shared with us over the years. Gone in the physical sense, but with us in spirit, where she remains forever Courageous & Outrageous. Our heartfelt condolences go to her loving family and friends.
~Bobbie Jo Reid

Marketing Head’s Note: I will always remember how, whenever I would see Pat, she always started our conversations with a sincere compliment that came from her heart. It was just one of the many things that made spending time with her a joy.
~Kathie Wagner

Publisher’s Note: Pat departed our lives at INSPIRED the same way she entered – with dignity, calm, and a desire to be of service. Her monthly columns were like footprints in the sand, each one challenging us to take a step toward a better and bigger life. Her life and words touched so many. We were privileged to have Pat as part of the magazine. Her spirit will remain with us always.
~Barbara Risto

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Laurie Mueller

Laurie Mueller, M.Ed is retired and living in Victoria with her husband, Helmuth. She recently published The Ultimate Guide on What to Do When Someone You Love Dies, available on Amazon. More about Laurie can be found at www.lauriemconsulting.com or on Facebook.