When Leslie and her family moved just before 4th grade started, she literally became the girl next door overnight. As a 9 year-old boy, I was uncertain if this was a favorable event having a girl in my class next door. But I was quickly won over. Over the next 5 years, we spent countless hours playing games she first learned and then taught others in the neighborhood. I also remember good natured snowball fights, followed by hot chocolate in winter and playing frisbee at the Lighthouse beach in summer. It was easy being with Leslie because she was the most cheerful and nicest person I knew.
Leslie’s natural warmth always was infectious. In high school she was friends with numerous groups of us, quite the achievement as we sorted ourselves into straights and long hairs, as well as cherished activity-based group identities. It seemed to me that everyone knew Leslie and everyone liked her.
Leslie devoted herself to occupational safety, earning a PhD. Professor Nickels earned considerable professional recognition both in Illinois also while working in Washington, D.C. . Hers was a life of service. She also traveled to something like 40 countries.
Leslie fought a decade-long battle with cancer, but only her immediate family knew this. She didn’t want to be treated differently by anyone just because her life was in danger. Could you do this? I couldn’t. When the news broke she was in hospice, I was stunned. Her husband, Lon, reported that Leslie asked for a chocolate milkshake, her favorite, and then a day later said, “she wanted to go home.” She left us quietly, two days later, cheerful to the end. Three hundred people came to her memorial service on a bitter January day in Evanston.
Stuart Sweet
When Leslie and her family moved just before 4th grade started, she literally became the girl next door overnight. As a 9 year-old boy, I was uncertain if this was a favorable event having a girl in my class next door. But I was quickly won over. Over the next 5 years, we spent countless hours playing games she first learned and then taught others in the neighborhood. I also remember good natured snowball fights, followed by hot chocolate in winter and playing frisbee at the Lighthouse beach in summer. It was easy being with Leslie because she was the most cheerful and nicest person I knew.
Leslie’s natural warmth always was infectious. In high school she was friends with numerous groups of us, quite the achievement as we sorted ourselves into straights and long hairs, as well as cherished activity-based group identities. It seemed to me that everyone knew Leslie and everyone liked her.
Leslie devoted herself to occupational safety, earning a PhD. Professor Nickels earned considerable professional recognition both in Illinois also while working in Washington, D.C. . Hers was a life of service. She also traveled to something like 40 countries.
Leslie fought a decade-long battle with cancer, but only her immediate family knew this. She didn’t want to be treated differently by anyone just because her life was in danger. Could you do this? I couldn’t. When the news broke she was in hospice, I was stunned. Her husband, Lon, reported that Leslie asked for a chocolate milkshake, her favorite, and then a day later said, “she wanted to go home.” She left us quietly, two days later, cheerful to the end. Three hundred people came to her memorial service on a bitter January day in Evanston.