Nagel, Patricia Jane (Nichols)

Patricia Jane (Nichols) Nagel, 90, passed away Oct. 29, 2013, in Cedar Rapids at The Meth-Wick Community after a long illness.

Patricia was born March 21, 1923, in Pittsburgh, Pa., the oldest child of Arthur Sumner Nichols and Jane Wharmby Nichols. The family moved to the Chicago area when she was two years old and she attended and graduated from Oak Park - River Forest High School. She then attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where she graduated with a degree in sociology in 1945.

On May 31, 1947, Patricia married Harold Nagel of Stockton, Ill., a student at Northwestern Law School in Chicago. In 1948, the young couple moved to Stockton to raise their family and for Harold to start his law practice and career as county state's attorney and circuit court judge in Jo Daviess County.

Patricia was one of the founders of the first kindergarten in Stockton, Ill. She was a charter member of the Stockton Heritage League and served as the museum curator for many years. She was a member of the Stockton Township Library board for 30 years. Pat was co-editor of two books highlighting the history of Stockton. She served on the board of directors of the Green Hills Council of Girl Scouts for many years. She was also a 50-year member of Order of Eastern Star Chapter 330. In May 1994, she was honored by the Plum River Lodge No. 554 with the Community Builders Award for her many years of service to the Stockton community. She was always interested in genealogy and spent many years traveling with Harold to England and Canada to search for her ancestors.

In 2004, she moved to The Methwick Community to be closer to her daughter and spent several years there making new friends and volunteering in the Deer Ridge library.

Patricia is survived by her two siblings, Arthur Nichols, Albuquerque, N.M., and Claire Howard, Mashpee, Mass. She is also survived by her three children, Thomas (Francoise) Nagel of Paris, France and their children, Emilie and Julien, Ann (Robert) Eckles of Cedar Rapids and their children, Elizabeth (Ryan) McMann and William (fiance Billie Jo Parmely), and Susan Botchman of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., and her children, Ruth (Matt) Schlosberg and Amy (David) Williams. She is also survived by five great-grandchildren, Adin and Ty Schlosberg, Jackson and Ashlyn McMann and Sierra Williams.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold in 1996; and her parents.

Cremation rites were accorded and burial will take place in Stockton, Ill., at a later date, with a family celebration per Pat's wishes.

Friends may leave an online condolence to the family at www.cedarmemorial.com under Obituaries.

She accomplished everything she set out to do. To build a strong family, with a rich tradition, and to leave love in her footprints.

Published Oct. 31, 2013 in The Gazette