Ernest Duane Nickels

1940 - 2011

Mr. Ernest Duane Nickels, 71, of Bartlesville, died at 7:26 A.M. on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at the St. John Medical Center in Tulsa.
Funeral services for Mr. Nickels will be held at 2 P.M. on Monday, June 6, 2011 at the First United Methodist Church with Rev. Kathy Morris officiating. Interment will be in the Ethel Reece Cemetery at Barnsdall directed by the Stumpff Funeral Home & Crematory.
Casket escorts will include K.C. Nickels, DuWayne Nickels, Clifton Nickels, Kevin Paslay, Nancy Draper and Karen Winans. Honorary casket escorts include Homer Paslay, Clayton Paslay, Jim Paslay and Darrell Nickels.
A memorial has been established and those who wish may send their contributions to the Children's Department, First United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 1136, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 74005.
Mr. Nickels was born near Ochelata, Oklahoma in Osage County on May 8, 1940 to Earl Frank and Madeline Gale (Magee) Nickels. He grew up and received his education in the Barnsdall area thru the eighth grade and completed his education in Ramona where he graduated from high school in 1958. He attended Oklahoma State University at Stillwater and then returned to Barnsdall where he made his home while working at the Jane Phillips Hospital in Bartlesville. He was later employed with Phillips Petroleum Company in the Information Services Department until his retirement. Mr. Nickels was married to Dana Sue Bohnsack on September 25, 1965 at Avant, Oklahoma and they have made their home in Bartlesville since that time. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church, the Frank Phillips Men's Club and the Masonic Lodge. He had also served on the Arbor Committee for the City of Bartlesville's Park Department.
Mr. Nickels is survived by his wife, Mrs. Sue Nickels of Bartlesville, four brothers, Jerry Nickels and wife Trudy of Cookson, Okla., Don Nickels and his wife Margaret of Bartlesville, Norman Nickels and his wife Ida of Bartlesville, and Kenneth Nickels of Barnsdall, one sister, Shirley Paslay of Skiatook and a sister-in-law, Murlene Nickels. Mr. Nickels was preceded in death by his parents, one brother, Bob Nickels, one sister, Earlene Southern, one half brother, Earl Yarbrough, one half sister, Jane Nickels, and by his son, Jeffrey Eugene Nickels.