Thelma Jean (Hodge) Nicklin, age 85, of Kansas City, Kansas, passed away April 22, 2021 at St. Luke’s Hospice House.

Graveside Funeral Services will be held at 1030 a.m. Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at Mt. Calvary Mausoleum, Kansas City, Kansas.  Deacon Michael Wilson will officiate.

Thelma was born August 26, 1935 in Tuscumbia, Missouri, the daughter of Harry and Lorene (Burks) Hodge. She often recounted memories of her childhood including a chicken that would chase her and her sister into a tree and celebrating her 16thbirthday in the loft of a barn because of the flood of 1951. In 1953, she graduated high school and began working as a Kelly Girl. She married John Riley Nicklin on November 8, 1958 and had 3 children. They enjoyed celebrating their anniversary every year at the Lake of the Ozarks and remained married for 54 years until his death on February 16, 2013. Thelma worked most of her career as a secretary in the insurance industry and retired in 1999 from Federated Insurance. She loved all types of music and always sang while washing dishes. She could be found watching MTV every Saturday night with her children and eventually her grandchildren. She took her coffee black and would tell you that if you put cream and sugar in it, it was no longer coffee. No Thanksgiving or Christmas was complete without her homemade pumpkin bread or donut holes. She always said if she could have gone anywhere in the world, it would have been to New England to see the lighthouses and fall foliage. Thelma had a wonderful sense of humor, loved her cats and dogs, and was adored by her family. 

She is survived by two sisters, Sue Geifing and Kathy Reeves; her three children, Toni and her husband Bob Dryden, John J. Nicklin, and David Nicklin and his former wife, Ronny Williams; three grandchildren, Chris Dryden and his wife Christina, Samantha Nicklin and her husband Ian Boyle, and Shannon Dryden; and six great grandchildren, Breonna, Marissa, and Faith Dryden, Korra and Serenity Boyle, and Terressa Dryden.

Pallbearers:

Samantha Nicklin
Shannon Dryden
Ian Boyle
David Sanchez
John J. Nicklin
David Nicklin

Honorary Pallbearers: 

Chris Dryden

Shawn Bassett