HANNIBAL, NY – Earle Ben Nichols, 87, of Oswego, died unexpectedly Friday afternoon January 24, 2014, at Oswego Hospital.
He was born in Ilion, a son to the late, Caius and Dorothy (Zschunke) Nichols and resided in Oswego since 1975.
Ben was an Army veteran of World War II and a member of American Legion Prior Stock Post 1552, Hannibal.
He worked at Remington Arms in Ilion for 15 years before moving to Fulton to work at Nestle’s until his retirement from there in 1984.
Ben then went to work for Wal-Mart in Oswego for 22 years until his retirement on December 31, 2013.
He enjoyed fishing and was an outdoorsman.
Ben was a member of the N.R.A. and the Pathfinder Sportmans Club.
In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by a sister, Dorothy Segerlind, who died in 2012.
Ben is survived by his wife of 47 years, Barbara (Smith) Nichols of Oswego; five children, Linda (David) Lawler of Delaware, Nancy (Bill) Lever of South Carolina, Barbara (Dale Fravor) Nichols of Fulton, Ann (Dan) Woodard of Scriba and David (Lori) Nichols of Oswego; 18 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; as well as several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services are private.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Golisano Children’s Hospital c/o Foundation for Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams St., CAB 326, Syracuse, NY 13210-9943.
Foster Funeral Home, Hannibal has care of arrangements.
Foster Funeral Home, Inc.
www.fosterfuneralhome.com
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Barb and family,so very sorry for your loss.he was a very nice person to everyone in walmart.he will be missed.
I will miss you, Mr. Earle! You are a bright star and always will be. You made us smile and always gave your all. It was & is a true honor to know you. Thank you. God bless you, Mr. Earle and your family.
Earle was a real pleasure to know. He will be dearly missed. My sympathies to his entire family. It has been an honor to call him a friend.
Earle your Walmart family will always miss you and we all have looks of stories about your
I will miss your smile, I will miss your laugh. Someone told me last night you had gone to paradise and I am deeply broken up. You made me coming to work such a great experience cause the first thing I saw was your smiling face. I hope you know I love you…I respect you….and I will forever miss you my friend. Fly high and sore above 🙁
Today my heart is broken. I was told last night one of the greatest people I’ve ever met passed away. Earle you brought joy to my life. Seeing you the second I walked in the door to work was the best thing that ever came out of that job. You always kept me smiling. I’ll miss your jokes, I’ll miss your laugh, I’ll miss you buddy. I hope one day we meet again cause I will definitely be buying you a beer lol, I will miss how we use to joke about going out to the bars after work even though we never did, so much fun and so many memories. You help cange my life buddy. I will forever love and miss you. RIP my friend. Your in gods hands now.
OMG! This man will be so missed!!! Because it was after Christmas, I just figured he was finally getting much deserved vacation time. His smiling face brightened almost every one of our stops at the Oswego Wal-mart. I know I am not in the minority.
Now he’s with the Angels, of which he was one here, what a sweet man…and no one doubts that! Walmart shouldn’t retire any of their fabulous greeters. They are too valuable a part of the shopping experience.
For his family, our sympathy. Not much more can we say!
On behalf of my entire family, I thank each of you for your kind comments about Dad.
He was a blessing to me and it is such a pleasure to read how he touched each of your lives. He truly was a kind and thoughtful man.
As he touched your life, please pay it forward and touch someone else. that would greatly please Dad.
Thank you,
Nancy Lever