Dottie Nichols

Dottie Nichols, age 84, passed away peacefully on Saturday, August 17, 2025, with her children at her bedside. Dottie was born in Grants Pass, Oregon, on September 26, 1940. At age 8 she moved with her family to a 72-acre “sage brush and tumbleweed farm” in the Columbia Basin Project, 12 miles north of Pasco, WA. She grew up working hard on the farm and walking 1 ½ miles to catch the school bus, her route marked by pieces of red handkerchief that her mother had tied to the sagebrush. She attended Northwest Nazarene College in Idaho, hoping to become an elementary school teacher, but returned home to help her family when her father suffered a serious back injury. She then attended secretarial school and worked for 5 years with the US Atomic Energy Commission and then Batelle-Northwest in Richland, WA. She met her future husband, Jim Dilley, a toxicologist with Battelle-Northwest, and they married on September 14, 1968. The family moved several times as Jim was recruited to be part of different research projects in Houston, Texas (with NASA); Kansas City, Missouri; and Sunnyvale, California. Jim died from a heart attack in 1979, and Dottie moved with her two children to Wenatchee, WA. She met her second husband, Dean Nichols, the Pioneer Middle School librarian, when investigating the best World Atlas to buy as a Christmas gift. They married in July 1983, living mainly in Wenatchee but for several years in Chelan, WA. Following Dean’s death in 2024, she moved to Highgate Senior Living in Wenatchee. Dottie was a vibrant spirit. She loved spending time with family, friends, and meeting new people wherever she went. She was a devoted member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and the church community. She enjoyed walking and being outdoors, especially if she could see butterflies or hummingbirds. She had a special affinity for the beach and amassed a fortune in sand dollars. She was thriving in her apartment at Highgate, surrounded by so many new friends and taking on responsibilities for herself, like delivering morning newspapers, and was recently appointed as a Highgate Ambassador. Dottie was preceded in death by her first husband, Jim Dilley, and her second husband, Dean Nichols, as well as daughter Mary Nichols in 1994. She is survived by children Tim (Amy) Dilley of Wenatchee, WA; Julia (John) Dilley of Olympia, WA; Marcy (John) Rumelhart of Spokane, WA; Mike (Lisa) Nichols of Redmond, WA; and Beth (Reed) Hanson, of Rexburg, ID. “Grandma Dot” will also be missed by her 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

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Dottie Nichols

September 26, 1940 - August 16, 2025