Melissa Lorraine Nichols

Melissa Lorraine Nichols went home to her Savior on Sunday night, April 27, 2025, while at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She was born October 6, 1975, in Mena, Arkansas, where she grew up. She went on to live in Hope, Arkansas; Hampton, Virginia; Anchorage, Alaska; and Jonesboro, Arkansas. In all these places, she was loved by everyone whose life she touched. She was a wonderful daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend. A bright light of Christ’s love, she looked forward to hearing the words “Job well done, my good and faithful servant.”

She is survived by her husband Kenneth Craig Nichols; her daughters Alyson Elaine Marie Nichols and Victoria Sincera Mardis; her son-in-law Harvey Leon Mardis; her mother Janice Arlene Simmons; her sister Monica Rae Smith; her brothers Waylon Joseph Simmons and Scotty Merle Simmons; her brother-in-law John Smith and sisters-in-law Carol Simmons and Ginger Simmons; her nieces and nephews: Joshua Smith, Jodi Flores and her husband Micah, Nathan Smith and his wife Cherie, Wesley Simmons and his wife Samantha, Ansley Simmons and her fiancée Bryson, and Jessalyn Simmons; her great-nieces Ezabella Smith, Gracelynn Smith, and Adelynn Smith and great-nephew Micah Flores Junior; her aunts and uncles: Billie Arnold, Linda Sue Upton, Tony Simmons and his wife Glinda, Shirley Fransisco, Doyle Simmons and his wife Lona, Jimmie Ray Russell and his wife Connie, Nathan Russel and his wife Dannette, Scotty Russell and his wife Debra, and Judy Phillips and her husband Kerry; and more cousins and cherished friends than can be counted.

She was preceded by her beloved father, Joseph Carl Simmons; her uncle Alvan Simmons; her grandparents: Albert and Elsie Simmons and Kermit and Grace Russell; and her godmother Lorraine Kennedy.

Her life will be commemorated by a memorial service on Friday, May 2, 2025, at 11:00 am at Redeemer Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas, with visitation at 10:00 am. She will be buried beside her loved ones at Big Cedar Cemetery in Big Cedar, Oklahoma, with a graveside service at 11:00 am on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. She will be missed by all until we meet her again in glory.