Cheryl Anne Nichols

Cheryl Anne Nichols was born on 25 November 1964 in Portland, Oregon, to Mary Lou Madsen Nichols and Kaye Page Nichols. On 8 April 2019, and at the young age of 54 years old, Cheryl graduated from this mortal life, peacefully and gracefully in the comfort of her Kirkland, Washington home and surrounded by family.   Cheryl lived her life to the fullest, even after being diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma Cancer in January 2017, constantly reading, researching and being her own best advocate to get the best possible treatment as she fought against this terminal illness.

From an early age, Cheryl was a voracious reader and a talented artist.  She was raised in Molalla, Oregon and attended Molalla Grade School and Molalla Union High School, graduating with her senior class in June 1983.  During her junior year, Cheryl was selected to be a Rotary Exchange Student and lived in Tarlac City, Philippines.  She quickly captured the hearts of all those with whom she came in contact and fully enjoyed learning a new language and experiencing a different culture.  Born with a ‘thrill’ gene, Cheryl was always up for an adventure, and this year abroad was the beginning of many more travel adventures for her.  In all, Cheryl traveled to 33 countries outside of the United States, which included living in Madrid, Spain for a six-month study abroad program during college.  Cheryl graduated from Brigham Young University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a minor in Spanish.  In 2004, she completed her Master of Communications in Digital Media from the University of Washington.

Cheryl began her career in Washington D.C. as a Project Coordinator with Jack Morton Productions, through which she worked on many exciting and interesting projects including assisting with the audio-visual work for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  She then spent several years working for Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless in various event planning and communications roles, briefly in Salt Lake City, Utah, before returning to the Pacific Northwest in the Seattle, Washington area.  In between jobs in 2006, Cheryl spent six months teaching Business Writing, Literature and English at the Gansu Political Science & Law Institute in Lanzhou, China.  For the past twelve years, Cheryl contracted as a vendor at Microsoft as a Communications Consultant.  Cheryl was very involved in her professional Communications community, serving for a year as President of the International Association of Business Communicators, Seattle Chapter.

Most importantly, Cheryl had a deep religious conviction and faith in God.  She was extremely involved in her Church congregation, serving in many capacities throughout the years.  Service and sincere friendship just came naturally to her.  She worked one day a week at the Seattle Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints since 1999, taking a two-year leave while working on her Masters degree.  She loved working at the Seattle Temple, and said it was the single most important thing she had done.  Through her cancer journey, she said that she must testify of Jesus Christ, as He was guiding her at each and every step, and that she did.

Cheryl is survived by her parents, her siblings; Tanja Watts (Larry), Kirsten Visick (Chris), Lori Nichols, Scott Nichols (Amy), eleven nieces and nephews, and one grand nephew.  A Memorial Service was held at the Rosehill Chapel of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Kirkland, Washington on Friday 12 April 2019.  Dedication of the Grave and Interment took place at the Midway City Cemetery, Midway, Utah on Friday 19 April 2019.