Name: Frances C. Nichols Date: November 26th, 1918 - September 30th, 2009 Obituary: Frances C. Nichols, 90, of Brunswick, formerly of Northampton, Mass., died Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009, at Winship Green Nursing Center, her home for the last three years. She was born in Hartford, Conn., on Nov. 26, 1918, a daughter of Reginald and Frances Demarest. She grew up in Springfield, Mass., and after graduating from high school she attended Wellesley College, Simmons College School of Nursing and later the University of Massachusetts. In 1941, she married Frank B. Nichols. They made their home on Long Island, N.Y,. where her four children were born and raised. In 1962, she moved back to western Massachusetts. There she worked in the French department and the theater department at Smith College and the theater department at Amherst College. She also had many other activities: she volunteered at the Smith College Greenhouse, studied Japanese and Chinese language at Smith, took yoga and Tai Chi classes, volunteered as a nursing home ombudsperson for the Massachusetts Elder Council and designed and made costumes for the community opera in Northampton. In the mid 1980s, she took the trip of a lifetime and traveled to Japan with an Elderhostel group. In 1999, she moved to Brunswick to be close to family. Here she audited classes in Asian culture and language at Bowdoin, tended the Japanese garden at the college and swam daily laps in the pool. She also enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and was a talented seamstress, an avid gardener and a gourmet cook. She was predeceased by two brothers, Frederick and Robert; and her sister, Virginia. She is survived by four children, Brooke Nixon and her husband, Andy, of Brunswick, and Suzanne, Peter and Stephen Nichols of Venice, Calif. She is also survived by 16 grandchildren, Lucia, Rachel, Mark, Sebastian, Lindsay, Caitrin, Eliot, Oliver, Preya, Malini, Biplab, Jasmine, Hilda, Rajani, Gloria and Paul; and four great-grandchildren. A funeral service will be held Sunday at noon at Brackett Funeral Home, 29 Federal St., Brunswick. Services: 12:00PM at Brackett Funeral Home on Sunday, October 4th, 2009 (map/driving directions)