Barbara Nichols Field

1919 - 2009

Our beloved Mom, Barbara Nichols Field, passed away at 11:13 PM, January 15, 2009, at the home of her son and daughter-in-law, David and Dianne Field. She was a mere 8 days short of her 90th birthday; our Queen, and a Queen for all of us, the 1936 Rose Queen, Barbara Nichols. She was the oldest living Rose Queen when she peacefully and gracefully bid us farewell, her son, David, holding one hand, and her daughter, Penny, the other hand, as Nat King Cole sang "Unforgettable". Each of her six children had the opportunity to wish her farewell, Bill by phone, Jeff and John at her bedside on her last night, and Jim with her the night before. Her life was devoted to the well being of her family, five sons and a daughter, ten grandchildren and eight great-grand-children. We grew wise by her wit, learned courage by her perseverance, gained in imagination by sharing in her artistic talents, and laughed together often by her example. She taught us to embrace a wide vision and made certain to share with us her love for travel. Each of us had the opportunity to travel to the country of our choice with her, and in October of 2006 four of us took her to the city of her choice, Paris, France. Mom was born in Pasadena in 1919, the daughter of Wanda and Edgar Nichols, the youngest of three daughters. Her mother was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Vassar, an early-untitled feminist who worked hard to become the Director of Social Services for the County of Los Angeles; and her father, an engineer that worked on the Edwin Hubble Telescope at Mount Wilson. Barbara Nichols married William Field in December of 1941 following her graduation from UCLA where the two had met as students and fell in love; Barbara a Delta Gamma and Bill the President of the Beta house fraternity. In response to the war effort, Bill Field accepted an engineering position with McDonnell Douglas, a decision that defined the remainder of his working career. In 1952 Mom and Dad purchased a parcel that overlooked the Pacific Ocean in the Flying Triangle of Rolling Hills. From Dad's architectural plans they built a home for their family of seven; ooops, now we are eight! We had better build a bunkhouse too. For the next thirty years mom, known to many as Nicky, raised her six children, a horse a duck and a goat, served the Rolling Hills Community Assn as member and Chairman of the Architectural Committee and the Landscape Committee, directed the South Bay Heart Assn Fund Drive, presided as President of the Rolling Hills Women's Community Club, painted and volunteered with The Circle and the Palos Verdes Community Art Assn, and with her dear friends, Harriett Ghormley and Faith Kuhns, founded Walk on the Wild Side. Our Mom leaves ten grandchildren who speak from larger thoughts because she shared with them her love for words and language. Our Mom leaves eight great grand children who paint her pictures, and blow her kisses and sing her a song, and we join them in celebration of our GREAT and GRAND MOTHER. Please sign the guest book at www.dailybreeze.com/obits. Please go to the mortuary's website, www.LAfuneral.com to send the family messages, share memories.