Madelyn Nichols Gurganus passed away on Dec. 19, 2023, at the age of 96. She was born in Mobile, Alabama, on Dec. 13, 1927. At the age of eleven Madelyn Rachel Nichols and her sister, Alice Adell Nichols, age sixteen, inherited Nicholsville, a ten-acre section of Fairhope, Alabama on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, from their father, Forest Edgar Nichols. Their grandparents, Charles Edgar, and Della Oswalt Nichols had built a large Victorian home there, where Madelyn and her sister grew up. Later, the house was sold to a developer who built Bay Winds Condominiums.
Charles Nichols was a member of Fairhope’s first City Council, and Della Nichols was well known in her days as an artist. She created a crazy quilt dated 1888, which was later donated to the Fairhope History Museum by Madelyn and is on display there.
Madelyn graduated from Fairhope High School in 1946. She was a cheerleader and very proud of it. She loved to cheer her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at their sporting events. She was a long-time member of First Baptist Church in Fairhope. She loved God and lived her faith as an inspiration to many. Madelyn spent her last eleven years in Naples, Florida, but she always said that Fairhope was her home.
Madelyn was preceded in death by her parents, Forest Edgar Nichols, and Georgie Fridge Greggs (Ray), her sister, Alice Adell Nichols Stuart (Clarence), and her husband, Jack Gurganus. She is survived by her two daughters, Jacqueline Evans Frodsham (Dennis) of Naples, and Ela Evans of Fairhope; two grandsons, Kevin Francis Galligan of New York City and Brian Patrick Galligan (Rebecca) of Naples, Florida; three great-grandchildren, Chase Galligan and Estelle Galligan of Naples, Florida, and Ashlynn Galligan of Cleveland, Ohio.
A graveside celebration of her life and interment of ashes for the family will take place at a later date in Fairhope Memorial Gardens.
