Helen Nicholson

Helen Louise (Simpson) Nicholson was called home into the loving arms of her Lord and Savior on Sunday, 17 February, 2019, at her home in Oklahoma City, surrounded by family and friends. She was greatly loved and will be greatly missed.
Born on 8 March, 1931 to Anna Mae (Cullison) Simpson and Andrew Stump Simpson in Maud, Oklahoma, she was raised on a farm until moving into the city during her teen years. She was proud of her rural Oklahoma heritage and told childhood stories about picking cotton, plowing fields behind a team of mules, and riding her horse to a one-room schoolhouse. Her resilient, hard-earned toughness formed the foundation for the love, humor, compassion and kindness that marked her entire life.
She met her husband Paul James Raber Jr. at a USO dance at Tinker AFB, and started a 20-year trek across the U.S., establishing homes from Alaska to Florida with many in between. Her homemaking skills helped overcome the myriad challenges faced by a military spouse and family, and she cherished the countless friendships forged along the way.
Returning to Oklahoma with husband Dorace E. “Nick” Nicholson, she enjoyed many happy years of personal and professional success. A champion bowler, she also loved to bake, sew, garden, travel, play cards, and decorate for Christmas. A voracious reader, she missed her true calling in life as a private investigator, having never failed to solve thousands of challenging mysteries well before the story’s lead detective.
Helen is pre-deceased by her parents, husband, three brothers, Gene, Donald, and Bobby, two sisters, Ruby and Rita, and a daughter, Christie Lynn. She is survived by her sister Julia (Judy), four children, Robert, Paula, Michael, and Patricia, nine grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. She also enjoyed a large, extended, blended, and adopted family. She loved all her family and friends, who frequently packed her big kitchen for holiday meals and Sunday dinners. Her exceptional culinary skills will be sorely missed and long remembered.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, 19 February, at Resthaven Funeral Home and Cemetery in Oklahoma City. In lieu of flowers, family and friends are encouraged to please consider making a donation to Southminster Presbyterian Church, Oklahoma City, OK.