The Essex activists needed 24,000 signatures to save the homes of 300 Essex residents. The task seemed daunting.
But it was Jackie Nickel?s calm, approachable manner that soothed even those homeowners affected by the condemnation legislation and persuaded more than 44,000 to sign the petition to defeat it.
It was that dedication to community that defined Nickel, 65, who died Friday after a six-year battle with cancer, friends and family said.
“With Jackie, it was always about Essex, it was always about Baltimore County, or it was always about her neighborhood,” said Brad Wallace, an Essex business owner whose home was saved when voters overturned Senate Bill 509 in 2000.
“There were so many good qualities in one person,” Wallace said.
A longtime columnist for a local weekly, The Avenue News, Nickel?s enthusiasm for local politics extended beyond the pages ? she was an active member of at least five civic associations, according to her three sons? count.
Her book, “Essex: Images of America,” was released in April by Arcadia Publishing ? more than 25 years after she decided to document the town?s colorful story from picnic groves and waterfront amusements to economic decay and back.
About 100 people attended a book signing, where it was Nickel?s turn to be interviewed.
She told an Associated Press reporter that fans in line shared Essex stories, the type of community spirit that County Councilman Joe Bartenfelder said Nickel relished.
“She took pride in her heritage, living in east Baltimore County and in the waterfront,” Bartenfelder said.
“I am proud to call her a friend and a supporter,” he said.
The public is invited to attend the interment at Oak Lawn Cemetery at 11 a.m. Thursday.
