My Talk From Jon's Memorial Service

My Adventures with Jon

For those of you who may not know me I am Lorri Nichols, Jon’s wife and personal cancer advocate. The two toughest jobs I’ve every had.

I would like to start by quoting the minister on our wedding day…

“A friend once told me that all true adventures share three equally indivisible components: high endeavor, questionable outcome and good companionship.” If my marriage to Jon does not qualify, I don’t know what does. For at it’s very heart, more than any other human undertaking, our marriage has required the willingness of two people to commit themselves wholly and without reservation to the most challenging of journeys. Demanding on a daily basis that you find yourselves, both individually and as a couple, the courage to commit unhesitatingly not to a known end, but to a process.”

When I married Jon, I knew my life would never be dull. Our courtship was full of fun, excitement and adventure. After our first date I began to receive UPS boxes in the mail on a daily basis filled with the latest, greatest backpacking gear. My kids and I were excited and filled with laughter each time a box arrived. Of course, I reminded Jon that this had only been our second date and that I may not like backpacking or even him. He said he was sure I’d like both and if I didn’t he’d just find another women my size! We backpacked, bicycled, hiked, worked-out and spent nearly all of our time together. We talked all hours of the night about, family, our children, business and all of the things that were important to both of us. He wrote to me long love letters (which he usually like to fax-I think that was the only technology he knew how to use) and gifted me over 50 songs that expressed his love. He proposed at least seven times before I finally said yes after a 10 mile straight up mountain bike ride to the top of Grass Mountain. He used to joke that if I hadn’t made it to the top he wasn’t going to propose but then would brag to everyone that I was the only women he knew that did so.

The year Jon was diagnosed he had told me our goal was to “Live Large”. Anyone who knows him would realize that this had always been part of his philosophy but now was really his time. He had found himself retired, happy, newly married, and ready to take on the world. Within months, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given two months to live. Even the strong and tenacious Jon Nichols was taken aback by the shock. It took him about a month to pull himself together and be willing to fight this dreaded disease. That became the rest of our marriage. Fighting together with every breath and fiber of our being to cure cancer. I still can’t believe that Jon and I together were unable to beat even pancreatic cancer. He is the only person I have ever known who is more stubborn, tenacious and bullheaded then I am, we felt unstoppable together. It was weekly chemos, monthly doctor’s appointments, and scans every six months. Jon fought more bravely and endured more pain then I thought was humanly possible.



Yet throughout this treatment we still had as much “adventure” as we possible could. For the first two years, albeit at a lower level, we continued to bike, hike, backpack and work out. It was only in January of this year that those things became impossible. Then we just held hands in the hospital, ate vanilla ice cream from those little dixie cups, read books, watched TV and cuddled. It was very difficult and not the way we saw our life but it was sad and sweet just the same.

Jon lived his life with extreme passion and adventure. As much as we will all miss him, I want to remind each of you that he does not want us to be saddened by his death. He lived a short, but very full life and did absolutely everything on his own terms. He is now at peace and no longer in pain. I would, instead, ask as all of you to honor Jon by also living a life full of passion and adventure. Conquer your fears, try something new, and never, never, ever be afraid.