ROWENA GUSSIE JOHNSON NICHOLSON, 92, formerly of Memphis, died on Wednesday, November 28, at Boulder County Hospice in Louisville, Colorado, after a short illness. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, November 13, 1915, she was the eldest daughter of Sterling Oscar Johnson and Cleopatra Ellen Hinson Johnson. Rowena had the opportunity to travel with her family, many times throughout her life, across the United States by train, as her father worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad as a cashier. She attended Memphis State Campus School, graduated from Messick High school in 1934 and attended Memphis State University where she was a member of the Math Society and Baptist Student Union. During World War II, she was a supervisor at AT&T and handled the secured calls that came from the White House in Washington, DC. to various military bases, located in the southern United States. Rowena was also a Grey Lady and volunteered at local hospitals during the War. Married in 1944, to Francis Ray "Nick" Nicholson, she was a homemaker and volunteer in the Normal community. As a member of Prescott Memorial Baptist Church, she taught the Primary Sunday School Class for 25 years and was involved in many mission activities. She was also an active member of the Normal Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Rainbow Girls. Rowena and her husband, Nick, established American School and Office Products when it was located on Jackson Ave. in Memphis. They retired in 1989 and enjoyed traveling across the USA for several months at a time, visiting relatives, friends, their girls and their granddaughters. Rowena was honored to carry the Olympic Torch through Boulder, Colorado, as it passed across the United States on its way to Salt Lake City for the Olympic Games in 2002. She was on various committees at the Meridian Retirement Community in Boulder, where she lived for 11 years and volunteered at Meadowlark Preschool in Boulder, for 8 years where she was well known as "Grandmother". She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers, Maurice Johnson and Jerome Johnson; her sister Thelma Johnson Canipe and her husband of 48 years, Nick Nicholson. She is survived by her daughters, Carolyn Shadda Nicholson Rhoads of Houston, Texas, Julia Nicholson-Paine of Boulder, Colorado; son-in-law David Paine of Boulder, Colorado; granddaughters, Shadda Rene' Rhoads Summers and her husband Richard Summers of Houston Texas, Courtney Nicholson-Paine of Boulder, Colorado; great-grandchildren, Sydney Shadda Summers and Asa Riley Summers; her sister Audrey Belle Johnson Percha and her husband Ray Percha; and numerous nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. Services will be held on Saturday, December 8, at the Chapel in Memorial Park on Poplar Ave. Visitation at 10:30 a.m., funeral services at 11:30 a.m., and then interment at Memorial Park Cemetery. A Celebration of Life Luncheon will be held afterwards at Prescott Memorial Baptist Church, 961 Getwell Road. In lieu of flowers, Rowena asked that contributions be made to the "Heifer International Project-Women in Livestock Development", which helps women overcome hunger, poverty and worktoward self-reliance, for themselves and their families, with a gift that never stops giving. www.heifer.org. Memorial Park Funeral Home (Published in The Commercial Appeal on 12/6/2007.)