Eva Smith Nichols
If you were asked to name ten females from the Coats community who made a difference in the lives of the people in the town of Coats since it was incorporated in 1905, who would you have on your list? If I had not limited it to the Coats community, some of us would quickly think about Marie Salmon, Bertha Westbrook and the list would grow accordingly to how they affected our lives and the era in which the females lived.
Eva Smith Nichols was the daughter of George Irvin Smith, the developer for the formula for the Smith Douglas Fertilizer. Her father was a strong advocate for public schools for all children and served as principal of Dunn Schools. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of Eva’s life was centered around making life better for all people and why she would be on my list of top ten females.
I often heard my dad speak of Eva’s husband, W. E. Nichols, with the highest respect. “Nick” is how my dad referred to him. Dad would without malice say, “Nick would drive around the county in a beat-up old truck, but he had Eva riding around in one of the finest cars in the area”.
Eva Smith Nichols' life impacted all aspects of the Coats community. She was involved with the founding of several organizations. She was a member of the Young Woman’s Auxiliary, the Fedelis Matron Class at Coats Baptist and the Woman’s Missionary Society in 1929. She was very involved in the Coats School programs and even pushed for and donated to the playground equipment for the students.
In 1932, during the depression, she was instrumental in collecting clothes and other needs for families who had been hit hard by the Depression.
Eva Nichols was instrumental in the organizing of the Page Book Club in which she served as president in 1934. She was very involved with the American Red Cross as early as 1938 and continued her involvement for most of her life.
Eva was a member of the Merry Matrons that later became the Coats Woman’s Club in 1936. She was also very involved in the political arena where she served on the local precinct level all the way up to serving on the campaigns for Democratic candidates on the state and national levels.
One can only assume that she had a great influence on her husband’s donation of the 8 lots for the placement of a community building; Eva was very involved in raising funds to convert the old army building into a place for the community to use. She headed up beauty pageants and talent contests to raise money toward the reconstruction into a building with bathrooms, kitchen and library.
Until her death she was known as a classy lady who cared about her community and its people.
If you were asked to name ten females from the Coats community who made a difference in the lives of the people in the town of Coats since it was incorporated in 1905, who would you have on your list? If I had not limited it to the Coats community, some of us would quickly think about Marie Salmon, Bertha Westbrook and the list would grow accordingly to how they affected our lives and the era in which the females lived.
Eva Smith Nichols was the daughter of George Irvin Smith, the developer for the formula for the Smith Douglas Fertilizer. Her father was a strong advocate for public schools for all children and served as principal of Dunn Schools. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of Eva’s life was centered around making life better for all people and why she would be on my list of top ten females.
I often heard my dad speak of Eva’s husband, W. E. Nichols, with the highest respect. “Nick” is how my dad referred to him. Dad would without malice say, “Nick would drive around the county in a beat-up old truck, but he had Eva riding around in one of the finest cars in the area”.
Eva Smith Nichols' life impacted all aspects of the Coats community. She was involved with the founding of several organizations. She was a member of the Young Woman’s Auxiliary, the Fedelis Matron Class at Coats Baptist and the Woman’s Missionary Society in 1929. She was very involved in the Coats School programs and even pushed for and donated to the playground equipment for the students.
In 1932, during the depression, she was instrumental in collecting clothes and other needs for families who had been hit hard by the Depression.
Eva Nichols was instrumental in the organizing of the Page Book Club in which she served as president in 1934. She was very involved with the American Red Cross as early as 1938 and continued her involvement for most of her life.
Eva was a member of the Merry Matrons that later became the Coats Woman’s Club in 1936. She was also very involved in the political arena where she served on the local precinct level all the way up to serving on the campaigns for Democratic candidates on the state and national levels.
One can only assume that she had a great influence on her husband’s donation of the 8 lots for the placement of a community building; Eva was very involved in raising funds to convert the old army building into a place for the community to use. She headed up beauty pageants and talent contests to raise money toward the reconstruction into a building with bathrooms, kitchen and library.
Until her death she was known as a classy lady who cared about her community and its people.