Obituary of Paul Eugene Nickless

Paul Eugene “Dean” Nickless was born January 24, 1929, in Sapulpa, Oklahoma and passed away Sunday, September 27, 2020. He was the last of 9 children of Vincent V. Nickless and Bureah H. Roberts Nickless. After his father became terminally ill, the family returned to their Oregon County, Missouri roots. His father died when Dean was about two years of age in 1931. A few years later his mother married James C. Fuller and two more sons were born, James Clyde and Donald Roy. Clyde died from pneumonia as a toddler but Roy thrived and lived in Thayer, Missouri as an adult. Dean moved to Brentwood, Missouri as a teenager to live with his sister, Wilda, a single mother of two daughters. He worked in downtown St. Louis to earn what he could to help them all. Knapp Monarch Appliances and Hussman Refrigeration are two employers coming to mind. Dean was drafted into the US Army in 1951 around the time of his 21st birthday and the Korean Conflict. The pay was meager so he joined the Paratrooper Unit which paid about $75 more per month. He trained at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Although he was not selected to serve in Korea, he completed his tour in 1953. Dean moved several times in the next few years returning to Thayer, Missouri where in 1963 he met the love of his life, Sharon Herrick, who lived nearby in Arkansas. He laughingly told many he found her on a stump in Arkansas as she often waited for him sitting on a stump in the yard of her grandparents, the Sterlings, where she spent a lot of time. He moved to Springfield, Missouri to join his brother in business but parted for other employment. He became ill and gave up painting vehicles and picked up the mechanical aspect of the auto business when he moved back to the St Louis area, joining his brother-in-law in a Mobil service station in Kirkwood, Missouri. Sharon joined him and they were married February 10, 1967. In 1971 he and Sharon moved to southern California for a period of time where he was the manager of an engine shop in Redondo Beach and she worked for Bank of America. Lonesome for their families, they chose the Lake of the Ozarks as their home, buying some farmland on the banks of the Big Niangua River in Camden County. They thought this was about central between his remaining family. Preceding him in death were his parents and siblings: Lewis Henry Nickless, Robert Noel Nickless, Clifton Everett Nickless, Mittie Lorene Nickless Pingleton, Wilda Irene Nickless Kauffman, William Vincent Nickless, Mary Eileen Nickless, Joyce LaWanda Nickless Archer, James Clyde Fuller and Donald Roy Fuller. He is survived by his loving wife Sharon Nickless, numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and many good friends near and far. Although they have no children of their own, they have many nieces and nephews who are so loved and special. Paul Dean as he is called by many these days (a combination of his legal name and nick name) will be cremated and the cremains will be buried at a later date in the Camp Cemetery in Arkansas near Sharon’s family.