Remembering Robert Nichols

Robert Kent Nichols, 42, of Clearwater lived life fully until January 16, 2000. Born in 1957, he came here in 1982 from his native Niagara Falls. He was a member of the Tuscarora Nation of American Indians, attended West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1980 from Syracuse University. He received his master's degree in 1982 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. He set numerous individual records in various freestyle swimming events in high school and throughout college and was named among the top five Florida Masters swimmers and top 10 U.S. Masters swimmers. He set a record for distance freestyle in the 1985 World Masters Games in Toronto and was named an All-American Masters Swimmer in 1985, 1986 and 1988. In May 1998 he set the Florida record for his age group in the 1,000 freestyle. Robert swam with Clearwater Y Masters. Loving Husband of Carole Dirksmeyer-Nichols.