Reverend Nigel A. Everett finished her term of service on earth and was called home Monday, October 11, 1999, at the ate of 81 years, 8 months, and 18 days. She was surrounded by her family who were singing “It Is Well With My Soul” and “He Lives!” when she rendered up her spirit.
Born January 23, 1918 in Chicago, IL, to Elbert and Alice (Hart) Boyden, Rev. Everett led a life of service to others: first to her family, and then to the church. She became secretary of the Willow Creek Methodist Church in Mishawaka, IN in 1956 and began her studies for the ministry there. In 1961 she was licensed as the first woman minister in the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Church and began her first assignment at Etna Green and Summit chapel Methodist Churches in 1964. She served as associate minister at Elkhart Simpson United Methodist Church in 1968-69; pastor of Wolf Lake and Kimmel United Methodist Churches in 1969-71; and as pastor of Ossian and Prospect United Methodist Churches in 1971-77. It was at Ossian that Rev. Everett’s husband of 41 years, Wayne E. Everett, lost his battle with cancer and was buried at Prospect Cemetery.
From 1977-81 she served the Butler Zion United Methodist Church and then moved to Monon United Methodist Church where she served until her retirement in 1986. Retirement, however, was only the beginning of service as chaplain of the United Methodist Memorial Home in Warren, IN, from which she retired in 1997. After this retirement, she served both as interim pastor of Warren and Plum Tree United Churches of Christ, and later as interim pastor for Poneto United Methodist Church.
After successfully surviving kidney cancer with the removal of a kidney in 1997, it was cancer that finally caught her again in the spring of 1999. Rev. Everett moved into the United Methodist Memorial Home in September to continue chemo-therapy, but her health deteriorated rapidly in the last few weeks and she succumbed to the disease at last.
For nearly ten years the family has preserved boxes of Rev. Everett’s typed and handwritten sermons, thinking that there must be a way to share her life’s work with others. At Remembers When, we have found that way.