August 29, 1959 – October 13, 2022

Our beloved Nicole passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on October 13, 2022.

Nicole was born in Lincoln, NE on August 29, 1959 to Norman, and Karen Church. Thus began her adventurous life. She grew up in Libya, Indonesia, and Singapore. She always felt that Indonesia was her home.

Nicole fell in love with Indonesian culture, and batik. After graduating high school early, Nicole spent 3 months learning how to make authentic batiks at a batik school in Java.

Nicole moved back to the United States when she was 17. At 22, she had her only child. She raised her daughter on her own with unconditional love, and astounding strength. She fiercely protected, and supported her daughter.

When she was 35, Nicole went back to college to finish her degree. She majored in English, and received minors in Geology, and Italian. After she graduated college, she began working as a department manager in the College of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and then the College of Management. She ended up returning to Chemical Engineering. While in Management, Nicole organized the annual Pan Pacific Conference in China, South Korea, New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Indonesia. Going back home to Indonesia was an incredible experience for her. In Chemical Engineering, Nicole took care of the faculty, staff, and students. She took the time to get to know everyone, and learn about the customs of the international students. She created a holiday tree for the department that she would decorate for all the holidays around the world.

Outside of work, Nicole was a magical artist. Her writing is captivating. She wrote a piano piece when she was 12 that she was finally able to finish in 2020. She dabbled in many art forms over the years before finding her love for painting furniture. She had the steadiest hands which allowed her to perfectly paint tiny details. You can feel her soul in all of her art.

Nicole was also active in the fight for human rights. She went to protests, donated her time on numerous occasions, and did what she could to make the world a better place for everyone.

Nicole loved her family. She believed in us more than we ever could. Her relationship with her granddaughters was one of a kind. She taught them about art, music, history, and about her life. They always enjoyed spending time with her.

Nicole had free flowing curls, a wild spirit, Crocs in every color, paint splattered fingers and jeans, a colorful personality, artful and expressive stories, and an extensive vocabulary. She was stubborn, talented, music loving, no BS, reliably understanding, cynical, humorous, unique, beautifully intelligent, opinionated, gracious, generous, compassionate, fierce, ever thankful, a force of nature, and always unapologetically herself. Her death has left a void in the lives of many.

Preceded in death by her mother, Karen Church.

Survived by her daughter, Adrienne (John) Krejci; granddaughters Grace Neylon, and Mary and Norah Krejci; father Norman Church; brothers Tony and Ben (Susan) Church; sister Mynde Church; nephew Max (Janie) Church; niece Brionna (Nate Rangel) Church, and four great nephews.

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