Nicola Pennington Bracken-Poe

3/8/1946 – 8/1/2023, Union City, CA

My warm-hearted, vivacious, loving mom Nikki was born in Twisp, WA, to Robert Daryl Bracken and Nilagene Pennington. The family, including younger sister Sheila, moved to Spokane, WA in time for Nikki to start kindergarten. Later came baby brother Craig.

Nikki sat behind Dennis C. Ahlstrand in Rogers High School French class. Later, they married and had their only child, Penny. When Nikki’s parents divorced, her little brother Craig came to live with us in Metaline Falls, WA, where Dennis had his first job after grad school in Missoula. Nikki trained as a nurse but also worked delivering flowers for Veldkamps’ Florist after they moved to Denver. Dennis’s job sent him to Houston but Nikki stayed in Denver and they divorced.

Penny spent summers in Denver with Nikki and her dear friend Richard Frey and his daughter Sherri. Eventually Penny moved back to Denver to live with Nikki, who was now working fulltime as an RN at St. Anthony’s Hospital (when it was next to Sloan’s Lake). Nikki worked in post-op and oncology, taking at least one double shift each month to pay for Penny’s ballet lessons. Nikki never failed to give each patient the best care, constantly advocating for her patients with the doctors and the administration. Her bedside manner was unparalleled, showing love and care for family members as much as for her patients. She could also always be counted on to bring a sheet cake with homemade buttercream frosting to any gathering at the hospital.

We drove our baby blue VW bug all over town—stopping at every 7-11 on West Colfax, looking for pink lemonade Slurpees, or going to see double-features five nights in a row at the old Ogden Theater during Katherine Hepburn week. Nikki, or “Moom” as we called her, was always happy to host gatherings of Penny’s junior or high school friends, including boys who came over to study after school and then couldn’t make it up the mountain safely to go home because it was blizzarding.

When Penny graduated from the fancy-pants college prep high school Moom got her into, Nikki and Richard moved to American Samoa. Nikki had friends there—our neighbors from Missoula grad student housing—and there are no snakes on the island of Tutuila, so she felt ok about going there. Nikki was the charge nurse for the ER on swing shift (the most exciting time on the weekends!) at LBJ hospital near Pago Pago. After several years in the cultural-mayhem-tropical-paradise, Richard and Nikki moved to Oahu, Hawaii, but ultimately broke up after 20 years together.

On Oahu, Nikki worked for Kuakini and Kaiser Permanente doing home health care and palliative home health care. She happily lived and worked in Makiki and Kailua until I had my second child, and then Nikki (now called “Tutu”) and her new husband, Luapo Poe, moved to the Bay Area to surround Noa and Finn with additional love, 24/7.

Nikki retired from Kaiser home health a few years ago, and enjoyed her free time but her health began to decline—knee replacements, broken hip, a new aorta, diabetes… and Nikki was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late June. She passed away without pain or fear on her own mother’s 98th birthday.

The most important part of this long, meandering story about my mom is that everyone loved Nikki. And Nikki absolutely loved the people around her. I fully believed that my friends wanted to come over in high school because my mom was fun and cool and let us eat M&Ms for dinner. I dreaded bringing home college friends or boyfriends (including my spouse Brent Neuhaus) because I thought they would think I was so boring after meeting her. But it was always great! Laughter, food, singing, heart-felt conversations…

I’m an only child, but Nikki made all of her friends, of every age, feel like they were as special to her as her own kid. I can’t even begin to list all of you here, for fear of leaving out someone, and you’re all important! She loved each one of you, and she loved caring for you, singing, laughing, and working with you over the years.

There will be no traditional funeral service, but we will have a memorial party in Union City, CA on October 15, 2023 for Nikki’s legions of loved ones. Call Nikki’s phone or email her and I’ll get back to you with details. Until then, put some peanut M&Ms in a bottle of Coke and go for a drive with the windows down, singing. If you prefer to write a check, please donate to her favorite non-music radio: NPR.org.

She loved you—go share your love with others now, in her honor!

Please share things that made Nikki laugh or gave you joy... Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.tridentsociety.com/location/san-jose-ca for the family.