Obituary: Dorothy Nicholas / Mother of 6 was top judo black belt

Obituary: Dorothy Nicholas / Mother of 6 was top judo black belt
Died May 10, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006

By Diana Nelson Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Dorothy Nicholas found a job, a passion and the remedy for a bad back in judo when she was 35. She went on to become the highest-ranking judo black belt in Pennsylvania, an honor she passed on to her daughter Cynthia upon her death on Wednesday. She was 69.
Mrs. Nicholas, of Brookline, was the mother of six, all of whom competed in judo. Her husband was the first Pennsylvania judoka to become a national champion. George Nicholas won five master's titles before his death in 1989.
After following her husband and son George Jr. onto the mat, Mrs. Nicholas became the assistant to Kyu Ha Kim at his judo school, formerly in Whitehall, now Kim's Martial Arts in Brentwood. Mr. Kim dubbed her Mrs. D, a nickname that stuck among hundreds of students she eventually taught at the school.
She was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 1988.
George Nicholas Jr. said his mother enjoyed working out more than competing. "She liked to come to our competitions. When my Dad competed, Mom would go and yell out strategies and techniques to him."
Two of her children became alternates in judo on the U.S. Olympic team -- Richard in 1980, when the United States boycotted the Games, and Cynthia in 1996.
Eugene Kim, who runs Kim's Martial Arts in Cranberry, said Mrs. Nicholas was "like my second mother. She worked with my father for 34 years as assistant instructor-slash-secretary-slash-manager. I don't think I've ever met a woman who was more passionate about the martial arts. Even in the last years when she couldn't do it physically, the thing that lit her up was talking about it."
George Jr.'s sister-in-law, Anna Maria Turnbull, grew up and still lives several doors away from the Nicholas family home.
"She was very family oriented. I never remember her not smiling, and she had this pretty, strawberry blond hair."
Before her involvement in judo and later tae kwon do, in which she also earned a fifth-degree black belt, Mrs. Nicholas had been a ceramist and taught ceramics, said Ms. Turnbull.
At the church they attended, the Church of the Resurrection in Brookline, Mrs. Nicholas gave free self-defense classes for women. "The most recent one was about six months ago. She was ill [with cancer] then but she was a fighter. It was only the last month she was down for the count. She was amazing that way."
Besides her son George Jr., she is survived by sons, Richard, Joseph and Brian; and daughters Kimberly Reick and Cynthia Nicholas Geyer, all of Brookline; and 13 grandchildren.
Visitation is today from 1 to 3 and 5 to 9 p.m. at Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home in Pleasant Hills. The funeral service is at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Fonte: http://www.post-gazette.com/