Donald (Don) F. Nickman

"Gone Fishing"

Don Nickman, 80, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on June 25, 2012, at Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Don was born September 16, 1931, to John and Monica Nickman in Pleasanton, Nebraska. After graduating from Pleasanton High School in 1949, Don joined the Navy, serving aboard the USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) with honorable discharge (1950-1954). He then attended the University of Nebraska, graduating with distinction in 1958 while working in the Omaha stockyards to put himself through school. In 1961, he graduated cum laude from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and was inducted into the medical honorary society Alpha Omega Alpha. After completing an internship at Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital in Omaha, he moved to Denver, Colorado, and was in general practice until 1969. In 1972, he completed a radiology residency at the University of Colorado and moved to Butte, Montana, becoming board certified by the American Board of Radiology in 1974. In 1975, he moved to Pocatello, Idaho, and in 1976, moved to Helena, Montana, where he worked until his retirement in 1989. After retirement, Don fished the Little Blackfoot River nearly every day.

In 2004, he relocated to Park City, Utah, to be closer to family. Don was married in 1956 to Marilyn Jane Schmidt of Hildreth, Nebraska. She and Don had 3 children: Nancy, Jim & Steve. They divorced in 1971, and she passed on in 1982. Don remarried in 1975 and later divorced. Don was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fly fishing, upland bird and big game hunting. He also enjoyed tying flies and carving birds. Don taught all of his children to downhill ski and volunteered for many years with Park City Mountain Resort as a race volunteer. One of Don's fondest activities was serving with the Race Secretariat as a volunteer for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

Don was preceded in death by his parents and two of his brothers a