Frances Dauphin Nichols

Frances Dauphin Nichols of Enterprise, AL passed away at her home on Monday, August 5, 2024 lovingly attended by family and caregivers. She was 98. 

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, August 8, 2024 at Searcy Funeral Home and Crematory Chapel, Enterprise, with Dr. Ben Bowden officiating. Family burial will follow at Meadowlawn Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1:00 PM until service time. 

Frances was born on June 30, 1926 in her beloved Coffee Springs, AL to the late Alva Dauphin and Lottie Dowling Dauphin. One of three siblings, she enjoyed working behind the soda fountain at her father’s drugstore until she graduated from Coffee Springs High School. Immediately following graduation, she headed to Washington, DC to put her excellent typing and shorthand skills to good use at the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She worked there until the end of World War II. 

Frances was a devoted and faithful member of First Baptist Church Enterprise where she served in many roles during her 68-year membership. Her Sunday school class members and the Wednesday afternoon church and game group were her dear friends and an important part of her life as well as the FBCE Women Mission Union. 

Frances loved gardening and flower arranging and joined the Daffodil Garden Club in 1956 shortly after moving to Enterprise. She was a leader in raising funds for the Aviator Monument and labored continuously over the years in the development of the Memorial Gardens.

She loved her lunch friends, card groups, traveling, the theater, entertaining family and friends, driving her friends to Auburn football games and was always willing to help anyone in need. She had a big heart, loved life, loved her church and her family and friends unconditionally. She will be missed dearly but she will be remembered fondly as a woman of faith and a loving mother and grandmother.

Preceding Frances in death were her parents, husband Rensol (Nick) Nichols of 41 years and later Joe Nichols of Albany, GA, brother, Alex Dauphin of Dothan and sister, Natalie Sikes Griffin of Lakeland, FL.

She is survived by a son, Neal Nichols (March), Enterprise, AL; daughter, Charlotte Nichols Griffin (Gordon), Enterprise, AL; grandchildren, Nicole Scott (Eddie), Birmingham, AL, Justin Nichols (Tiphanie), Santa Rosa, FL, Amy Griffin, Nashville, TN, Todd Griffin (Yan) Birmingham, AL, and great-grandchildren Adair, Fox, Eli, Mason, Kathryn March, Elliott, Nathan and many nieces and nephews.

The family wishes to express deep appreciation for the kind compassionate care from caregivers and nurses.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Baptist Church Missions, 302 North Main Street, Enterprise, AL 36330.