Paul NICKLE (1939 - 2021)
PAUL NICKLE December 19, 1939 - March 26, 2021 My beloved husband of 53 years - Paul Nickle - died in Toronto after several years of declining health. He was predeceased by both parents, John and Anne (Lawrence) Nickle as well as both siblings, Lawrence and Graham Nickle. Paul was a long term employee of the City of Scarborough and upon early retirement, he took full advantage of the free learning opportunities available to the public at the University of Toronto. His favourite pursuit there was the weekly voice performance class at the University's Faculty of Music and in the process, he developed a love for opera. Paul then endowed a merit-based scholarship in opera studies but true to his nature, he believed in learning opportunities, not naming opportunities. Public recognition for simply funnelling money to a certain field didn't appeal to him. But recognizing someone for exemplary contributions to that field did. So Paul sought and received permission from Father Owen Lee, a distinguished opera expert amongst his many other achievements, to name the scholarship after him instead, much to Father Lee's surprise and delight. As a result, many wonderfully talented students have been awarded the Father Owen Lee scholarship since its creation in the early 2000's. I'm sure that Paul would be most pleased if all of us paid tribute to him by treasuring the young opera talent we have right here in this City. Besides providing support, Paul was fortunate in attracting support so at this point, I would like to give two big thank you's. First of all, the Terraces of Baycrest where Paul lived for less than one year before moving to long term care - the Terraces staff were splendid in their treatment of Paul. When it was apparent that Paul needed more care than they could offer, the Terraces didn't hesitate to supply more than everything it took to make his transition seamless and in the process they made my life so much easier. Although this wasn't in their mandate, they chose to do so and I am most appreciative. And secondly, Frank Restaurant at the AGO. For years Paul so enjoyed our weekly Sunday trips to view the AGO collection followed by lunches at Frank under the wonderful friendship of its manager Nicolas Sanson and his superb staff - it was a second home. Nicolas' expression of care and concern for Paul when he became ill were so kind and deeply touched Paul. Now in closing and instead of providing a list of suggestions for memorial donations, I would like to share what I will be doing to honour my husband. Paul had the good fortune to be a resident of Kensington Gardens Long Term Care for several years and I will be making a donation to them (kensingtonhealth.org). They not only took excellent care of him but of me, his caregiver, as well because that is what a good nursing home does (thanks to Jenny and Bei Bei for their support during these final difficult few weeks). There aren't enough adjectives to describe Kensington Gardens' efforts on our behalf but kind, caring, compassionate, selfless, devoted, professional are just a few. As we have discovered during the pandemic, the province's long term care sector needs all of us ordinary people to get behind it, because no government seems willing to provide meaningful support in spite of health experts' best efforts and best evidence over so many years to convince them otherwise. Long term care has been short-changed with short-term fixes for too long and we must let our representatives know that this needs to stop. There will be no funeral service, cremation has taken place, arrangements handled by Affordable Burials and Cremations. And now goodbye, Paul, and once time releases me, we will find again that "...our hearts are face to face, naked and unashamed..." (Emlyn Williams).