Priscilla Louise (Hay) Nichols
Dec 5th, 2022
Priscilla Louise (Hay) Nichols, age 106, passed away on Monday December 5th at Maplewood at Mayflower Place, following several years of declining health. She was born on September 26, 1916, in West Newton, MA and was the daughter of Daisy Sophia (Stevenson) and Edgar Percival Hay. She was a much-loved sibling to her older sister Ruth Lavinia Hay and younger brother Lt. John Stevenson Hay, both deceased.
Priscilla graduated from Lasell Junior College in 1936 and pursued a career as a medical secretary working at the Boston Woman’s Hospital (later Brigham & Woman’s Hospital) for several years. Her family summered in Shore Acres, Scituate, MA where she met her future husband, John Wellington Nichols of Newton Highlands whom she married on June 4, 1940. They would go on to live in Springfield, MA and, following World War II Waltham, MA, and Allentown, PA before settling for many years in North Haven, CT and finally moving to Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod in 1973.
After sixty-two years of marriage, John Wellington Nichols died on Jan.14, 2002. Priscilla is survived by two sons: The Reverend John Hay Nichols and his wife, Nancy Falor Nichols of Wayland and Mark Kimball Nichols and his partner Lowell Massey of Cummaquid. She is also survived by two grandchildren: David Nichols and his wife Laurie of Newton and Karen Nichols Lawing and her husband Greg of Asheville, NC. She also leaves five great grandchildren: Daisy, Gaia and Naomi Lawing and Dylan and Luke Nichols. Also surviving is one nephew, John Stevenson Hay Jr. of Fort Worth, TX.
While living in North Haven, Priscilla greatly enjoyed her work as a case worker at the Children’s Center in Hamden, CT. In addition to raising her family, she was an avid golfer and bridge player. After moving to Cape Cod, she worked for several years as a real estate agent in Barnstable Village and Yarmouth Port. Always very social, she was active in the woman’s group of the Bass River Yacht Club, the Nine-Hole Golf group at Cummaquid Golf Club and the “Quidnuncs”, a group of women in interested in antiques.
She and her husband were members of the Unitarian Church of Barnstable. Her favorite pastimes included: golf, bridge, reading, needlepoint, and travel.
Services for Priscilla will be scheduled at a later date. For those wishing to make a memorial donation, in lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate a gift to the Unitarian Church of Barnstable, Historic Preservation Project, P.O. Box 285, Barnstable, MA 02630.