Dr. Photis John Nichols

Dr. Photis Nichols, the son of immigrant parents who emigrated from the small village of Trikeri, Greece in the early part of the last century to Apalachicola, Florida, passed away on August 21, 2017. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Garaphalia Nichols; and two brothers, Nicholas and James; and his sister-in-law, Olga. He is survived by three sons, George, Photis Jr., and Constantine; and three beautiful grandchildren, Photis III, Antonis, and Anastasia. He loved his children and grandchildren, and was devoted to them.

Upon graduation from Chapman High School in Apalachicola in 1941, he joined his father in the operation of the family’s large general store in Apalachicola for the next year. In 1942 he was accepted to Emory University in Atlanta and graduated in 1948 with BS and MD degrees. He served an internship and surgical residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami following up with a return to his native birthplace and began a long and successful practice in medicine, surgery and obstetrics. He was a member of the local medical society, the American Academy of Family Practice, the Florida Medical Association, and later, the Duval County Medical Society.

Upon retirement, after fifty years of practice in Apalachicola, he moved to Jacksonville with his late wife, Frosso, to be with his children and grandchildren. He was a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, and was privileged to serve on the parish council of the Church in Panama City, and later of the Church in Tallahassee. He was honored by the Church in being appointed an Archon – the Order of St. Andrew. This is the highest honor the Church can bestow on a layman. In the early 1970’s he was honored by Archbishop Iakovos in a visit by the Archbishop to his home in Apalachicola for dinner and fellowship.

Dr. Nichols was privileged to serve on the Board of the Big Bend Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1972 and received a Commendation for his Service. In Jacksonville, he worked in the We Care and VIM clinics for many years. In recognition, he was awarded the honor of Jacksonville’s Doctor of the Year Award.

In 1968, he was elected to the Franklin County School Board, and was re-elected twice – serving twelve years. He had the honor being chairman for part of this time. A notable achievement was the replacing of two entirely separate schools – one in Carrabelle, and one in Apalachicola – built at no cost to the local taxpayers. Additionally he pursued and received a grant for the school board from the State Department of Education for $200,000. For the construction of a vocational facility at the Apalachicola site. He strongly advocated a career in vocational education for those students who had no planned to enter college.

On his initiative the school board built the first solar powered system for heating and cooling in Florida and the second in the nation. Dr. Nichols worked diligently to convince his peers on the Board of the Merits of such a system and upon their approval, approached the director of the State Department of Education. The State have the school board a grant of $600,000 and the system was built.

While Dr. Nichols was successful with the construction phase of the schools, he ran into strong headwinds when it came to what the students were achieving. He was a strong advocate of the students achieving their highest potential during their school year. It seemed that “social promotion” was the order of the day from the view of certain members of the faculty. It seems that many students were advanced in their elementary school regardless of their achievements, resulting in many of them performing one or more grade levels less than the one they were in. This so-called “social promotion” resulted in some students falling behind in their studies and finally dropping out of school.

Ironically in a speech before the local Rotary Club in the late 1970’s, he advocated ten goals for vocational education – aimed at those children that were potential candidates and who were not college bound. The speech was covered by the Florida Times-Union newspaper and subsequently the Honorable Fred Dickenson, Florida’s Education Commissioner noticed it and incorporated it as one of the State’s goals.

Visitation will be held on Monday, August 28, 2017 at St. John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church, 3850 Atlantic Blvd, Jacksonville, Florida at five o'clock in the evening, with a Trisagion Service at 6:30pm. The Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday, August 29 at ten o'clock in the morning on St. John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church, followed by interment in Oaklawn Cemetery, 4801 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville, Florida 32207.

Arrangements under the care of Hardage-Giddens Oaklawn Chapel, 4801 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32207 (904)737-7171