She started at the University of Ottawa in Nursing during the 1960s, but quickly realized the field wasn’t for her after doing some practical courses on a hospital unit. At the time, her first choice would have been visual arts, but the program didn’t exist yet at the University.
While raising her young family, she went back to school and took some art courses over a ten-year period at the Ottawa School of Art. That’s where she found her true interest and talent, even entering and winning competitions. When her children started school, she joined the University of Ottawa’s newly formed visual arts department and completed her degree studying part time. “That was the best experience I’ve ever had and the smartest thing I ever did. After eight years I ended up with honours in art theory and art history. I’m so thankful to the University for what it did for me,” says Deirdre.
Even though life circumstances and events meant she sometimes had to put her own passion aside, the arts always remained very important to her, having recently confirmed a planned giving intent to create the Deirdre Maynard Nicholds Scholarship for Visual Arts. “I chose to do this for my many years of hard work and because I met some wonderful professors who were great mentors to me. I just want to encourage others to pursue their passions and studies and to have a little bit of help along the way,” she mentions.
However, Deirdre’s support of the University of Ottawa started much earlier than this planned gift confirmation. She and her sisters created an endowed fund when their mother passed away to honour her significant talent as a violinist. Their mother grew up during the Great Depression and played with the Ottawa Youth Orchestra during the 1930s as first chair, but she was never able to pursue her musical talent at the university level because of financial difficulties. In the spirit of giving students the opportunity their mother didn’t have, Deirdre and her sisters established the Jackie Larocque Violin Scholarship, which provides support for talented violin students at the School of Music.
When her husband died unexpectedly in 2007, Deirdre and her family decided to create the G.B. “Hap” Nicholds Memorial Scholarship at the Telfer School of Management for students in financial need to pay tribute to him as a significant business leader. Mr. Nicholds was the retired President of Dollco Printing, where he worked for 35 years. “He was such a wonderful employer. He had 300 employees and was very respected by his staff. He deserved to have something in his honour because he was such a special person,” adds Deirdre. His family selected the University of Ottawa for the scholarship fund because of shared links between the family, the University and the Ottawa community. The Nicholds family also strongly support the bilingual nature of uOttawa and value the work it does in bringing French- and English-speakers together.
Over the years, Deirdre has appreciatively held on to the thank-you letters she has received from several scholarship recipients. The students sometimes share that they're able to pursue their careers and that the scholarship helped them get over a slump that they had experienced. “It’s encouraging and I’m so happy to see the positive results. The idea is just to help people who are struggling financially. It’s to help them travel their path so that they may pursue their dreams,” says Deirdre.
Many University of Ottawa alumni have included a gift to the University and its students in their estate plans. It’s important to inform the University of your intentions, so that our planned giving team can validate the designation of your future gift with you. To learn more about this type of philanthropic project, email us at [email protected].