Running With Angels 5K

This weekend, although Krystal, the kids and I were not able to attend, our family participated in a 5K for heart disease. Our participation in the event, which was held at Thanksgiving Point, was planned for three main reasons: the first was to encourage each other to live healthier lifestyles, the second was to honor one of our fallen heroes: my dad, Sanford Ross Nicholes, Jr., who died in 1987 (at the age of 32) of a heart attack, and the third was to get together and do something active, as a family. It all started when ALee, one of my paternal aunts, came up with the idea last summer. It ended today, as the Deseret Morning News published an article about yesterday's Run/Walk.



We always try to find ways to remember our dad, some of them private and others public. Since his obituary, this is not the first time that he's been publicized. Several years back, on KBYU, they did a series on family history. In the introduction to the show, there was a little boy playing in the front yard, caught on video in the late 1950's. That young man was, indeed, Sanford Ross Nicholes, Jr. There have also been stories and articles that I have published in literary magazines while I was in junior high and high school. Of all the things we have done, this is the first time that we've had his name printed on T-shirts.



He was a great man, who loved everyone he met, and they all returned that love. He had a great sense of humor and an affection for music and sports. Although he was only 32, and I four, when he died, his personality and outlook on life impacted countless lives. When some people die, their loved ones miss them and mourn for them, but when my dad died, the only appropriate response was to try to emulate him and live the quality and type of life he led (perhaps with a slightly better diet).