Memorializing the Music Maestro

It was common to see Bob Nickel accompanying a school musical group on the piano, or with the band in a parade (above, far left).

Supporters are raising funds to restore the auditorium in memory of Bob Nickel, who passed away Feb. 2

Longtime business-education teacher, principal and musician Bob Nickel retired last summer before seeing many of the repair projects he’d requested for the Sturgeon Bay High School auditorium.

Just months into his retirement, Nickel received a diagnosis of terminal illness, and less than a month after that, on Feb. 2, he succumbed to pancreatic cancer. He was 61.

However, during those last few weeks of his life, Nickel learned to hope that the auditorium updates could take place, and he also discovered how much he meant to students, colleagues, churches and the fine-arts community in Door and Kewaunee counties.

In January, fundraising began in honor of Nickel to replace seating and flooring and to facilitate additional auditorium upgrades. During that process, friends, students, fellow musicians and educators throughout northeastern Wisconsin expressed their gratitude to Mr. Nickel.

His wife, Mary, informed friends and supporters online via Caring Bridge that her husband had died late on the afternoon of Feb. 2, and she asked people to direct donations to Unity Hospice and the Sturgeon Bay High School Auditorium Project.

“Thank you for your prayers of strength and comfort. Bob told me he never imagined he had made such a difference in so many lives,” Mary stated.

Dan Tjernagel, superintendent of Sturgeon Bay Schools, said the auditorium repairs did not fit into a $16.84 million, taxpayer-funded referendum passed for additions and improvements at the district schools during 2020 and 2021. Following Nickel’s cancer diagnosis last month, staff members and friends discussed how they could best show their appreciation to Nickel and his family, Tjernagel said, and they decided to raise funds for the upgrades and name the auditorium for Nickel.

Sturgeon Bay High School band director Heidi Hintz said it made perfect sense to name the auditorium for Nickel, and not just because he’d drop whatever he was doing to volunteer his time to play piano for musicals or band numbers.

“Bob has had an impact in our music program that goes beyond just plays,” Hintz said. “When you look around our band room, his fingerprints are on almost every facet of our music program.”

Nickel played in the pit for musicals, accompanied band and choir students and ensembles, and found funding the department needed for equipment, whether through grant writing or the budget process. 

“When there was a band piece that we needed a piano player for,” Hintz said, “I’d just go to his office and say, ‘Hey, Bob, how are ya? Want to play with us again?’ And he would unhesitatingly say, ‘Of course. When are we doing it?’”

Hintz described Nickel – also a talented oboe player – as the type of artful, meticulous musician who put everything he had into his playing and made it look easy. She remembered he also played the saxophone extremely well when they were both in the Algoma Community Band.

“He modeled lifelong musicianship, which to me has always been the goal of our music program: to get our kids to be lifelong musicians and advocates of the arts,” Hintz said.

Jen Hanson agrees with that sentiment. The longtime junior high business-education teacher and current Sturgeon Bay instructional technology coordinator said Nickel helped her to develop and elevate her classroom skills as well as her abilities and courage as a musician.

When Nickel was teaching high school and junior high business technology at Sevastopol, he hosted Hanson 17 years ago in her initial student-teaching effort. She observed how he worked with kids, managed a classroom and organized materials and course outlines. She said he developed a great rapport with students, conversing with them individually about real-life situations and using humor without completely derailing lesson plans.

When Nickel learned that Hanson had done choral singing in college and performed on piano in high school, he encouraged her to join him in duets at the school and at the Moravian Church in Sturgeon Bay, where both had been members. He challenged her to tackle difficult musical pieces and recruited her to try a new instrument by joining a bell choir. Hanson saw how he set an example that elevated the performance of fellow musicians in community bands in Kewaunee County. Nickel and Hanson became such close friends that Bob and Mary Nickel became godparents to her son.

Nickel played the organ at his church in Green Bay after retirement, joined a community band and chorale group, and occasionally took voice lessons. 

Just as he will be remembered for a musical passion that he freely shared with others, so will he be remembered for his professionalism and service beyond the fine-arts curriculum.

“He was about getting the work done and making this the best place for our kids and our community,” Tjernagel said. “It wasn’t about him. It was about serving others.”

Nickel Memorial Auditorium Fundraising Project

Tjernagel said auditorium-project supporters are confident they can raise $130,000 to replace the original seats and update the original flooring in the auditorium, but just like Nickel, they would like to see additional updates.

Tjernagel said that even when he was preparing for his retirement, “nary a meeting went by when a request from Bob was not made to upgrade the auditorium seating.”

If donations surpass the needed $130,000, they could pay for projects such as replacing stage lighting with LED lights, updating the sound booth, repainting the auditorium and dressing rooms, and improving the acoustics and storage. Creating a performing-arts scholarship fund is also under consideration.

Donations to the SBHS Auditorium Project may be dropped off or mailed to Sturgeon Bay High School, 1230 Michigan St., Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235 or delivered to any Door County Nicolet Bank location. Online donations can be made at sbsd-101713.square.site or at sturbay.k12.wi.us/district/donationinformation.cfm. A school-district activity account has also been established in Nickel’s honor.