Obituary of JoAnn V. Nicholls

JoAnn (Jo) V. Nicholls, age 77, of Yankton, SD passed away unexpectedly Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at her home in Yankton. Memorial services will be 9 AM, Monday, August 12, 2013 at the United Church of Christ (Congregational), Yankton with Rev. Rick Jensen officiating. Military rites will be by the Ernest-Bowyer VFW Post #791, Yankton and the SDARNG, Sioux Falls. Immediately following the service, JoAnn's family invites everyone to a time of refreshments and fellowship at the church. Opsahl-Kostel Funeral Home and Crematory, Yankton is in care of the arrangements. JoAnn was born April 2, 1936 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, SD to Harry J. and Helen (Shoop) Coates. She joined her brother Harry J. (Pepper), Jr. at 303 1/2 W. Cedar to live in the 2nd Floor Apartment in the Coates Hotel. She went to school at Lincoln, Webster, Garfield, Central and Yankton High School. In 1954 her parents and 2 brothers, John and Gene drove her to Washington State to attend 3 years of nursing training at Tacoma General Hospital School of Nursing. She married DeLoy Nicholls,(United States Navy) at the Little Church of the Prairie in September, 1957. In November, 1957 she accepted a 2nd Lt. Commission in the Army Nurse Corp under the cadet program. After six weeks of basic in San Antonio, TX, she returned to Madigan Army Hospital in Tacoma, WA. Mikal Harry Nicholls was born in 1958 at Tacome, WA. Deborah Ann Nicholls joined the family in 1961 in Pocatello, ID and Tony Lee Nicholls arrived in 1963 in Tacoma, WA. For the next twenty years, JoAnn moved with the family to Orleans, France, Hopewell, VA, Ft. Knox, KY, Schofield Barracks, Shafter and Waipahu, HA and Sagami Depot, Japan. JoAnn, Deb and Tony returned to Yankton in 1978. JoAnn was employed for 18 years until 1996 at the Human Services Center in Yankton, SD. She is survived by her brothers, John F. Coates of Washington, DC and Gene Coates of Madison, WI; eldest son, Mikal (Teresa) Nicholls of Chula Vista, CA and their children: Angela (Rick) Buckley, Kimberly (David) Tokar, and John Nicholls; daughter, Deborah (Ernest) Osborn of Bonita, CA and their children: Kristopher Osborn and Jonathan Osborn; Tony Nicholls' children: Brandon Nicholls, Tyler Nicholls, and Katie Nicholls;