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September 10, 1933 – November 15, 2016
Major LaVergne Nickerson was promoted to Glory Nov. 15, 2016, from Menifee Lakes, California.
Nickerson was born Sept. 10, 1933, in Seattle in the back seat of a 1928 Continental. His parents had been Salvation Army officers in Montana during the Great Depression in the 1920s, before leaving officership to relocate to Seattle to be near family.
His family—including older sister, Lois, and younger brother, Ben—were active in the Nazarene Church. As a teenager Lois received an invitation to The Salvation Army Seattle Citadel Corps. Lois asked if she could bring her brother. Impressed with the brass band and other musical events at the corps, the Nickerson children became regulars there.
In 1955, LaVergne entered The School for Officers’ Training in San Francisco. He was commissioned in 1956 with the Sword Bearers Session, and in 1957 he married Barbara Harris. The family grew to include two sons, Vern and David, and two daughters, Cathleen and Darlene.
The Nickersons served in corps in Los Angeles, San Diego, Huntington Park, Lincoln Heights, Glendale, Riverside and Long Beach, California; Tucson and Yuma, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; La Grande, Portland, Roseburg and The Dalles, Oregon; and Bremerton, Washington. They also served at Southwest Divisional Headquarters and in the Adult Rehabilitation Centers Command. Nickerson attended the Brengle Institute in 1965. In 1998, the Nickersons retired after 42 years of officership.
Nickerson is survived by his wife, Barbara; sons Vern (Joan) and David (Tammy) and daughter Darleen (John) Seel; 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Grandson Captain Mark King currently serves in Great Falls, Montana. Daughter Cathleen died in 2001.
A celebration of life service took place at the Murrieta Corps on December 3, 2016, with Major Jerry Esqueda presiding.
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