Louise Nickel, who lived most of her life in the Jeffers area, died Oct. 2 at the age of 101. She passed away at St. John's Lutheran Home in Springfield where she was a resident. Louise Nickel was born Dec 29, 1877, in Germany the daughter of Ludwig and Bertha Pankonin. She immigrated with her parents in 1890. She married August Nickel on March 25, 1898, at the Red Rock Methodist Church. The couple spent their married life farming in the Jeffers area. He passed away in 1955. She was preceded in death by two children, Lydia and Henry, four brothers, six sisters, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.Those who survive include three daughters, Mrs. Ella Dammann of Redwood Falls, Mrs. Selma Werner of Springfield, and Mrs. Agnes Kosel of Jeffers, one son, Ervin Nickel of Springfield, 14 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren, and 15 great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held at 11 a.m., Thursday, October 4, 1979, at the Red Rock United Methodist Church in rural Sanborn with Rev. Susan and Ray DeVogel officiating. Mrs. Janis Nickel, organist. Mrs. Alice Kansanback and Mrs. Maxine Pankonin, vocalist. Casketbearers: Alvin Essig, Robert Kosel, Roger Gerth, Bernett Nickel, LaMoine Nickel, and Gerald Karow.
Burial was at the Red Rock Cemetery in rural Sanborn. Arrangements by Hoyt-Sturm Funeral Home, Springfield.

Note * One of Cottonwood County pioneers Mrs. August Nickel has lived in this county since 1890 when she came from Dodge Center in Dodge County when she was 12 years old. She migrated to this county from Germany when she was two years old with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Pankonin. They came to Germantown Township and moved on to the John Bauer place in section 29. There were 11 children in the Pankonin family, four boys and seven girls. There are only three sisters alive now besides Mrs. Nickel and they are Mrs. Helen Kierce, 82, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Mrs. Amelia Pooch, 80, of Lamberton, Minnesota. Louise Pankonin married August Nickel on March 25, 1898, during a bad sand storm in her parent's home in Cottonwood County, Minnesota, and then lived in Germantown until they moved to Springfield in 1935. Mr. Nickel died in1955 just two days before they were to celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary. They had six children, two sons, and four girls...Henry died in 1958. Ervin lives in Springfield and Lydia Essig died in 1921 in childbirth and Mrs. Reinart Werner and Mrs. Wm Dammon live in Redwood Falls, and Mrs. Walter Kosel (Agnes) lives in Delton Township. Mrs. Nickel's father came to this country ahead of the family and they followed after the machinery and livestock came by rail into Sanborn. There were no fences in this county when they came here and they could go by oxen all the way to Springfield without the hindrance of a fence...They would make a trip to town to shop once a week and they would haul grain on the way so that there would be a payload both ways. All the children slept in one room over the rest of the house and the most comfortable place was near the chimney for warmth. The eight to ten cows they had for milking were pastured in the open country and the children would be required to herd them and keep them safe from animals and to see that they didn't wander away. One of the biggest dangers was from prairie fires that often raged across the open range. One that was remembered started at Windom and burned almost to Lamberton before the wind switched and it burned back to the Red Rock Falls area.Mrs. Nickel was a lifelong member of the Red Rock Evangelical Methodist Church and still attends there regularly.

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