The late Nicole Sullins, a consummate historian, poses with a picture board she assembled for the Rancho Murieta Women’s Club in 2018. The club presented a celebration of her life. 

RANCHO MURIETA (MPG) - Longtime Rancho Murieta resident Nicole Sullins always found family in her friends.

That manifested at a celebration of her life that was presented by the Rancho Murieta Women’s Club on Jan. 13  at the Rancho Murieta Country Club.

Not only did Sullins become part of the glue that has kept the women’s club going for 32 years, but she also co-founded the River Valley Garden Club in 2003, which is still going strong.

Sullins died on Oct. 26 after being hospitalized following a head injury suffered at her home. She was 75.

Judith Embree looks over one of three picture boards created by Sullins when the River Valley Garden Club celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023. Sullins helped found the garden club.

Lisa Teague, the primary event organizer, emceed a short program in which members from both clubs described her impact. Other friends, including one from high school, added touching anecdotes.

“Wherever Nicole landed, she always seemed to have wonderful friends, and it was no different when she landed in Rancho Murieta 25 years ago,” Teague said.  

Despite stormy weather, more than 40 friends attended the remembrance, which featured a potato bar luncheon, tributes from her friends, and a slide show with memories from her past life.

Lisa Teague, who emceed the celebration, greets four friends who remained close to Sullins after all graduated from high school in 1965.  From left, are: Joanie Halverson, Bernadette Ferraco, Patty Marra, and Suzane Holm.

Teague told the crowd that Sullins’s commitment to the women’s club, where she served on the board for many years had “exemplified her dedication to creating meaningful and enriching experiences for the women of Rancho Murieta. She poured countless hours into organizing events and activities and fostering a sense of camaraderie and support among the members.”

Bonnie Kirschner, the current women’s club president, said when Sullins attended her first meeting she immediately volunteered to help with an upcoming fashion show. She realized the organizing committee needed more structure so she created an agenda to help everyone focus.  She continued using her organizational skills and eye for detail to keep everyone on track in subsequent years.

Sullins also had a creative bent.  “Nicole loved working on fashion shows as it brought out the fashionista in her,” Kirschner said. “She also had a keen eye for the latest style and color trends, which she used to create the colorful themed programs and flyers.” (Sullins also was famous for her handcrafted cards.)

As a board member, Sullins found her niche in the layout and design of the Activity Line newsletter. She also served as the club historian and created scrapbooks that she brought to the meetings. After too many accumulated, she went digital. But even after moving online, Sullins emailed a summary of each event complete with beautiful pictures and details about the program.

Kirschner also relayed a message from Marcia Courson,  the first director of the women’s club, who now lives in Arizona. “I’m very grateful to Nicole and appreciate all her hard work to preserve the history and memories of this wonderful club,” Courson wrote.

Taking part in a celebration of life presented by the women’s club at the Rancho Murieta Country Club on Jan. 13, members watch a slide show with milestones from her life. 

Ellison Cowles, who is currently co-vice president of the garden club, met Sullins later than the others. “My first introduction to Nicole was not to the woman herself, but the absolutely gorgeous newsletter that she put out online for the garden club here.” Although Cowles accidentally had received it while living in Elk Grove, Sullins agreed to keep sending it to her.

“As soon as I moved to Rancho Murieta, I joined the garden club here, and it was all because of Nicole’s newsletter,” she said. “Then I got to know the wonderful woman who put it together.”

More recently, Cowles helped Sullins put together three picture boards for the 20th anniversary of the garden club in 2023. Sullins had helped found the club in 2003.  “I was so impressed with everything that she had preserved, cataloged, remembered, and saved for all of us,” Cowles said. “She was a light, a character, and a beacon.”

Suzanne Holm was one of four out-of-town friends who traveled to Rancho Murieta for the celebration. The group attended El Rancho High School in  Pico Rivera, a city in Los Angeles County. Holm said that Sullins always left her school friends behind when it came to style and confidence, probably due to her French mother’s influence.

After graduating in 1965, the five remained friends despite going separate ways. But in 2015, they reconnected in person to privately celebrate their 50th high school reunion.

Preparing for the memorial, Holms asked the group how they remembered Sullins. Some of the adjectives were smart, sensitive, quirky, genuine, funny, and sassy.  “Nicky was quick on the uptake if you crossed her,” Holmes added. “She didn’t have a fake bone in her body.”

Four more Rancho Murieta friends also shared their memories. Lynn Ossolinkski remembered 23 years of good times when she and Sullins were part of The Divas, a social group that went on many adventures.

Close friend Susan Mazzera described Sullens as one of the most fashionable people she had known and said she admired her outspokenness about politics. Both traits probably stemmed from her French heritage. Mazzera also loved her sense of humor especially the daily texts that always made her stop and laugh.

Betty Ferraro described how Sullins’ Rancho Murieta family came together after she became increasingly ill from cancer and then suffered seizures and two prior falls before the injury that led to her death. Friends took her to medical appointments, the hospital and to a veterinarian hospital for her little dog Charlie. Others cleaned her house and picked up her groceries at Bel Air.

“Thank you all for being there for her,” Ferraro said.

Sharon Barton added touching details about the end. As Sullins lay in a coma, Teague and Mazzera read her the love letters her parents exchanged in World War II in hopes she could hear them. Teague also brought roses to her room and scattered them on her bed. “So Nicole couldn’t have gone out in a more beautiful, beautiful style,” Barton said.

Sullins’ parents met in France during World War II. Paulette Georgelet was working near Reims and met Chester Stambaugh, an American soldier. They married in Tyrone, Penn., and their daughter Nicole Annick Stambaugh was born on Nov. 13, 1947, two days after their one-year wedding anniversary.  She grew up in Pico Rivera and graduated from high school there. After attending college, she had different careers over the years including a stint as a casino dealer in Reno. She also married and divorced twice, first to Michael Bezusko and then to Earle Sullins.  Sullins suffered from repeated health problems such as losing a lung from cancer, but she met those difficulties head-on. She fully retired in 1998 and settled in Rancho Murieta to begin a new life surrounded by friends.

A lighted Eifel tower fabricated by Jim Teague is a tribute to Sullins’ fashion style, which she inherited from her French mother.