Larry Herbert Nickel was born on Tuesday, October 12, 1943 in Monroe Hospital. He was the only child of Helma (Heiden) and Herbert Nickel.

He grew up on the family farm on Lewis Avenue and graduated from Ida High School in 1961. Larry farmed with his father prior to Herb's death and continued to farm and drive truck thereafter.

On March 31, 1973, Larry married Elizabeth Maureen (Betty) Dougherty in Prince of Peace Lutheran Church with his cousin, Roger Heiden, Sr. as best man. They had two children.

Betty graduated from Ida High School in 1970. She worked as a bookkeeper/clerk at the Ida Farmers' Cooperative. She has a twin brother and also has a set of twin sisters in her family. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling.

On July 20, 2024, Larry was killed in a farm accident. He was 80 years old at the time of his death and had 3 grandchildren.

For several summers in my teens in the mid-1960s, I worked baling hay and straw for my uncle, Herb Nickel. Larry and I would stand for hours at a time catching bales from the baler and stacking them high on the wagon. Then we would go up into the sweltering haymow to stack them again once they came up on the grain elevator. I earned a dollar an hour but then you could purchase a 10 ounce Coke for 15 cents or a gallon of gas for 30 cents.

Larry and I got to know each other pretty well during this time although he was five years older. He had a lot of interesting stories about various "adventures" that he and our cousin, Roger, experienced on hunting trips or traveling together. He was a good guy!