Everyone has a story.
Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person–someone who is well-known, influential, or successful, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
John Nickelson and Henry Whitehorn are running for the position of Caddo Parish Sheriff. Election day is March 23rd. This week’s “What’s Your Story?” features Mr. Nickelson. Next week’s “What’s Your Story?” will feature Mr. Whitehorn.
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
May 1st, 2022.
A beautiful spring day in Shreveport’s South Highlands neighborhood.
Until just before 1:30.
“It was one of the most horrible events I’ve ever had any proximity to,” John Nickelson remembers.
13 year-old Landy Anglin was inside her home when hit by a stray bullet from a rolling street shootout. Before sundown, Landry was gone.
“To have a beautiful little girl the same age as my daughter senselessly murdered on a Sunday afternoon was without a doubt one of the most impactful experiences that I’ve had.”
The tragedy hit close to home, literally, for John and his family. They lived four doors down from Landry on the same side of the street.
“Grappling with the reality that if the muzzle had been 30 degrees difference, a bullet could have come into our home, was another layer of that experience.”
John relieved that sad day, and told me his 44 year life story, over lunch at a place of his choosing, Frank’s Pizza Napoletana in Shreveport. John enjoyed a half-and-half Caesar Salad and BLT. I also had a half-and-half (La Mista salad and Cuban panini).
At the time of Landry’s death, John was a city councilman. Almost two years later, the tragedy was a factor in John deciding to run for Caddo Parish Sheriff.
“When Sheriff Prator called me last summer and proposed that I run for Sheriff, and I had a series of discussions over the course of days with my wife about it, that event was certainly something to which I gave a lot of thought.”
John was born in Shreveport while his father was in medical school. Once finished, John’s dad moved the family to Jena — in rural northeast Louisiana — where they took care of John’s mother’s ailing parents. The family stayed until John was nine years old.
Those years were good years.
“I have memories of a small boy going full-time (Tom) Sawyer, being put out of the house after breakfast with nothing on but shorts, and running through the woods and doing things kids now are more likely to read about than actually do themselves.”
But with an opportunity to practice Oncology in a larger city, John’s father relocated the family back to Shreveport.
“I remember moving into a house on Pierremont that felt very upscale compared to Jena living.”
John went to St. Joseph Catholic School, where he received more than a book-centric education.
“Father Murray Clayton was the priest, and he had such a deep, personal impact on me. I am well into mid-life, and as I look back, I think, ‘How did I become who I am?’ I think about St. Joseph, Father Clayton, and the Christian gospel that I received day in and day out if you attend a Catholic or Christian school. That had a big impact on the way I see the world, and what I decided to do with my life.”
John modestly describes himself as a “good student.”
“My principal interest in high school was my now wife (Emily) of 22 years. I was very interested in spending time with her and keeping up with her.”
Still, John found enough study time to graduate Salutatorian at Loyola College Prep. Emily had already decided she was going to college at TCU in Ft. Worth, Texas, which meant that’s where John was going, too.
“The best decision I’ve probably ever made is to latch on to her and not let go until she agreed to marry me.”
Which Emily did. John graduated a year before Emily. One month after she finished, they became Mr. and Mrs. Nickelson.
“We packed up a U-Haul van — I may have even stuck a shotgun in the back to protect my new bride — and we drove across the country to Charlottesville, Virginia.”
That’s where John attended law school (University of Virginia), and where he and Emily’s first child was born. After John graduated, the family of three moved back to Texas. John became one of 700 lawyers worldwide at a firm in Dallas. After a little more than three years, the Nickelson’s moved to Houston, so John could spend a year as Clerk for a United States Court of Appeals judge.
Then came decision time. Put down roots in Texas, or come back home.
Family, which has always been important to John, was the deciding factor.
“We knew we wanted our parents and siblings to be part of our children’s lives. That really has been a wonderful part of the experience of coming home.”
After three years with a law firm, John went into practice for himself. As if that wasn’t enough of a workload, he took on even more work — running and winning a council seat.
“The ability to help people with their problems is deeply satisfying. As a councilman, you have an unusual ability to do that at a very local level.”
But helping people came at a cost — time. Remember, John was still practicing law, and had a wife and now four children (Abigail, Elizabeth, Genevieve, and Samuel). So, he chose not to run for re-election.
“You hear people talk about end-of-life, and what they wish they would have done more of and less of. Everybody says they wish they had spent more time with, and been more attentive to, their family. Nobody says they wish they had spent more time at the office.”
During our hour-long conversation, it was clear that John is a very serious person. I made him aware of my observation, and he didn’t disagree.
“I joke with friends that I might not be the first person you put on your list to invite to a party. I think I’m serious to a fault, and I admire people who are committed and engaged to their endeavors in life, but are able to inject a little more levity than I can sometimes.”
But if you catch John at just the right moment . . . .
“I think I have dry wit. I do laugh. I don’t think I’m ever knee-slapping funny, but I may tell a joke that makes somebody chuckle once-in-a-while.”
Assuming John needed to get back on the campaign trail, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about his life story that can be helpful to others?
“Especially with young people at the beginning of their lives, I would encourage them to say “Yes” to opportunities for service, even if those opportunities are inconvenient or uncomfortable. It’s really easy to live a life that is very inwardly focused. We’re all guilty of that. That’s part of being a human. But if you can keep your eyes open for opportunities which allow you to help other people in meaningful ways, without impairing your own ability to take care of yourself and your family, you ought to take them. I think if everybody would do a little more of that, the world would be a much better place.”
Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com