Cousin Norval's Blog

Name: Norval Stuart Nicholls
Birthday: September 19, 1938
Birthplace: Geneva , Nebraska

Hello, everybody. I hope my little letter finds you all healthy, wealthy, and wise. I will fill you in with highlights of my activities, hopefully without boring you too much...so here goes! I graduated from the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln, in 1960, and immediately went ‘on-the-road' as a touring musician.

Eventually I settled in the Chicago area, (1962), where I began life as a music teacher in Bellwood, IL (west suburban Chicago). Music education turned out to be a good field and I stayed at it long enough to be eligible for the teacher pension.

After that, I worked at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago for thirteen years. I was involved with ‘Guest Services', assisting arriving and departing conventions and conferences. I was shipping / receiving / mail room / coordinator / troubleshooter.

It was a very interesting job and I enjoyed it very much. Every day I had the challenge of having everything totally organized and maintaining a smooth-running operation while dealing with a wide variety people.

After that, (are you still with me), I worked for a number of years at a large west-suburban music store in Burr Ridge, IL (far west suburbs), repairing musical instruments. I got married in 1976, and raised two step-children, Billy and Tracey.

Tracey got her MBA from DePaul University in Chicago , and now lives in Phoenix, AZ. Bill graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago Circle Campus, with a business degree and currently owns his own seat on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The kid's gonna be a millionaire.

I have begun drawing my pension, so I don't have to work quite so much. I have been active in the music business all through the years, and have played gigs all over the Chicago area. I plan to continue playing, weekends, mostly. I am no longer married.

I have recently moved to Hickory Hills, IL, (southwest suburban Chicago), it's an apartment, a temporary situation; I plan to buy another house sometime in the very near future...I will keep you all posted.

Currently, I am a ‘Professional Student'. I have been enrolled for quite some time now, at Moraine Valley Community College, which is walking distance from my apartment. I am ‘up-to-here' in computer courses.

I am taking every course they offer in graphics and web design, resulting in Aunt Myreta's website, which started out as a class project in Dreamweaver class (a web design software) and now has grown into a family website project which currently consists of sixteen pages.

Aunt Myreta's Birthday Party
It is impossible to say at this point whether we can pull this off...a family reunion/birthday bash in Beatrice for Aunt Myreta in 2007, because it all depends on how she will be feeling at that time. I don't want to overwhelm Aunt Myreta with a big family event if she isn't feeling up to it.

I just thought that it would be good idea to let everybody know what we are considering. Pencil in the last weekend of July, 2007 on your calendar, which gives everybody plenty of time to be thinking about what we could possibly do and what arrangements would need to be made.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy our family website...feel free to select pictures from your family album to submit; (limit: 2 or 3) you can e-mail them to me or send them by ‘snail mail' and I will scan your snapshots on to our website and return them to you. Also, feel free to submit your own family blog (limit: 600 words) and we will include that too.

For security reasons, we will not include addresses, phone numbers, or e-mail addresses of family members in the website.

Love, Cousin Norv