Life of active volunteer celebrated

Lolita Harper

BURBANK -- Martha Cope Nicholson, the founder of what is now called

the Burbank Center for the Retarded, died Nov. 17, 2000, in Columbia,

S.C. She was 79.

Nicholson lived in Burbank for 43 years and devoted much of that time

to the city’s many service organizations.

She died from heart failure in an Alzheimer’s care center, said her

daughter, Ellen Kesler.

Nicholson was born in Kansas City, Mo., but was raised in Hollywood,

graduating from Hollywood High School in 1938. She moved to Burbank in

1950 when her father and her husband, Norman Nicholson, built a house.

While she was the president of the Women’s Club in 1963, she and her

vice president, R.V. Caughey, started the Burbank Retarded Children’s

Center.

The name of the center changed to the Burbank Center for the Retarded

(BCR) when it also began to serve adults, said Lonna Grant, a colleague

at BCR.

“She was wonderful and had a lot of community interest,” Grant said.

“She was very much involved with the center ... when I was hired.”

In addition to her service at BCR, Nicholson was involved in a number

of other organizations. She volunteered at the Leilani Auxiliary of the

Children’s Home Society of Los Angeles for 35 years and served as

president five times, Kesler said. She was also honored by the Women’s

Club as Burbank Woman of the Year in the mid 1960s.

“Women’s clubs were so effective back when Martha was involved,” Grant

said. “She was a full-time volunteer. Now they are different because

women have to work.”

Nicholson is survived by her son, Norman Nicholson; daughter Ellen

Kesler; and granddaughters Emily Kesler and Kristin Nicholson.

A private service was held at Forest Lawn on Dec. 8. Friends who wish

to celebrate Nicholson’s life can donate to the Children’s Home Society

of Los Angeles in her memory.