Leslie Robinson Nicholas Jr. was born on July 29, 2007 to Sybil Williams and Leslie Robinson Nicholas Sr. in Tampa, Florida. His father Leslie at the time was in a real estate business called Nicholas Realty Company. His mother Sybil was a stay at home mom and was a member of the First Baptist Church and Homemakers’ Club. Leslie was said to have been called Rob or Les and possibly Robert. For the sake of this article I will refer to Leslie Nicholas Jr. as Leslie and his father as Leslie Sr.
It is unclear where Leslie attended school in his youth. By 1937 Leslie moved to Jacksonville where his father was employed at Guardian Life Insurance. They lived in Riverside close to the Riverside Hospital. On November 8, 1938 Leslie’s grandfather Alex Nicholas died at the Riverside Hospital at 76 years old. Alex was a naval store operator in an obscure “town” called Conners by the Ocala National Forest. Alex was most likely at the hospital because he was in poor health and his only son Leslie Sr. lived nearby. Since Leslie Sr. was Alex’s only son one can assume he acquired some of his things. Leslie did get possession of one photo of Alex in his youth and another photo of Alex with his wife Eva.
In Jacksonville it is again unclear where Leslie attended school. He may have attended Robert E. Lee High School where his future wife Margurite Queen had attended.
On February 14, 1942 Leslie Sr. registered for active duty in the Army. Leslie Sr. was already in active duty reserve. When he was in Tampa he was part of an anti artillery unit and had attained the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Since he was in active duty reserve he had to do his part for the country and serve in the war. At the time of his registration he was 39 years old. Considering his age and time in active duty reserve he was promoted to rank of Major. Leslie Sr. was sent to an undisclosed location in the South Pacific commanding the 117th AAA GP CAC an anti artillery group.
On July 30, 1944 Leslie’s mother Sybil died at 44 years old. Sybil’s death was completely unexpected and turned Leslie’s world upside down. His father was serving in the Pacific War, his mother died, he was an only child, and his father was an only child. Leslie had to be placed in a military academy called Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia. Leslie attained the rank of 1st Lt. while at the academy but he was not happy being there.
Leslie Sr. returned from the Pacific War on November 21, 1945 and returned to his career in Guardian Life Insurance. It was most likely in Jacksonville that Leslie Sr. met Louise Knight. Leslie Sr. and Louise married not long after to Leslie’s dismay. The death of his mother was still on his mind and he did not want someone else in his life to be his new mom. It is rumored that Louise was not nice to Leslie but that could be false. Leslie at this time was in the Merchant Marine for an undetermined amount of time. Leslie Sr. and Louise moved to New York City where Leslie Sr. was promoted to an executive position at Guardian Life Insurance.
It was around 1947 that Leslie Sr. was diagnosed with cancer. The theory of how the cancer occurred was from the war because he could have been exposed to unknown chemicals. In 1948 Leslie Sr. and Louise had a son named Alexander Stephen Nicholas. Leslie did not like having a half-brother and came to regard him as not his actual brother. His father’s new marriage and now newborn half-brother bothered Leslie. He was never actually around because at this time he was attending the Oxford College at Emory in Atlanta.
At Oxford College Leslie was in the International Relations Club, Phi Gamma, Vice President of the Florida Club, Debate Club, Associate Editor of the yearbook and President of the Freshman Class. The following yearbook photos, above and below, were from the 1948 Oxford College yearbook.
On December 17, 1948 Leslie Sr. died of cancer at 46 years old in Port Chester, New York. Due to Leslie Sr.’s service in the war and in active duty reserve he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His son Alex was only a few months old and never knew his father. Louise never remarried and raised Alex alone.
In 1948 Leslie graduated from Oxford College and then attended Emory University.
In 1950 Leslie married Margurite Queen in Jacksonville. It was around 1951 when Leslie pursued a career in management at Southern Bell. Leslie and his family moved to North Carolina in the early 1950s where he continued his career at Southern Bell in management. On August 21, 1950 Leslie and Margurite had their first child named Lynn. On March 19, 1952 Leslie and Margurite had their second child named Margurite Melissa Nicholas. On April 22, 1954 Leslie and Margurite had a third child named James Robinson Nicholas. On July 22, 1956 Leslie and Margurite had a fourth child named William Alexander Nicholas. On July 9, 1959 Leslie and Margurite had a fifth child named Thomas Leslie Nicholas. On October 3, 1963 Leslie and Margurite had a sixth child named Daniel Andrew Nicholas. In 1964 Leslie and Margurite had a seventh child named Joseph Edward Nicholas. Leslie, growing up as an only child and son of an only child as well, ended up having seven children with Margurite.
Leslie was a manager at Southern Bell first in Gastonia. Leslie moved his family a number of times due to his job from Gastonia (near Charlotte), to Winston-Salem, and then Asheville. The moving around may have taken a toll on Leslie’s marriage and it is rumored that he was unfaithful to Margurite. In 1969 Leslie moved for a final time to Atlanta at the Southern Bell corporate headquarters where he was a General Personnel Manager for Georgia Operations of Southern Bell. Leslie was also on the Business Advisory Committee of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
Sometime in the early 1970s Leslie and Margurite divorced. Margurite moved back to her hometown in Jacksonville where their two youngest children Daniel and Joseph lived while the rest of their children lived with Leslie in Atlanta. Daniel and Joseph would grow up in Jacksonville attending University Christian School. On January 3, 1975 Leslie’s grandmother Eva died at 98 years old. It was at Eva’s funeral that Leslie and his brother Alex would last see each other.
Around 1978 Leslie remarried to Ruby Martin an employee of Southern Bell/AT&T. Although Leslie and Ruby had no children together Ruby would end up becoming another mom to the children as she was very kind to all of them. Margurite remarried to Bobby Watkins and would also have no more children. On September 12, 1980 William Alexander Nicholas, usually referred to as Billy, drowned in a lake in Bartow, Georgia at 24 years old. On April 7, 1985 Lynn died of diabetes at 34 years old. Both William and Lynn had no children.
Leslie retired from Southern Bell in the early 1980s and he moved to Fruit Cove near Jacksonville to be closer to family and to the town he had once lived in his youth. Since he just lost his two children, lost his mother at an early age, lost his father to cancer in his later youth, had a half-brother to a marriage he disliked and had divorced in the early 1970s due to his problems with infidelity (supposedly) Leslie was not in a good mindset and realized this. Leslie and Ruby joined Southside Baptist Church where he was a deacon. Leslie in his retirement years spent much time in pursuit of faith and mending his family back together as well as trying to reform himself as a better person. Leslie himself admits he was not a good father but pursued to better himself in that aspect as well as for his grandchildren which were first born in the 1980s. His grandchildren grew up to know Leslie as a kind hearted person and had no negative memories of him.
Leslie in his retirement years had a keen interest in Civil War memorabilia. He would collect antique Civil War items in his spare time and even planned to write a book on the Civil War but it never took off. It is worth noting that Leslie’s great-great grandfather James Nicholas was in the Confederate Army during the Civil War though only briefly due to a disability. When Leslie was not off fulfilling his hobbies in Civil War memorabilia he would attend church, spend his days at home with wife Ruby and visit with his children and grandchildren.
Leslie would end up having 10 grandchildren and grew to know their kind grandfather and generous wife Ruby. Some grandchildren would end up not growing up to know their grandmother Margurite Queen Watkins as she died of cancer on January 27, 1991 at 61 years old. Margurite and Leslie may have been divorced for around 20 years but they both shared the same love for their children and grandchildren.
In 2007 Leslie’s health grew worse due to the combination of diabetes, which he was diagnosed in his 50s, pneumonia and basic health affects being at the old age of 79. On July 28, 2007 Leslie’s family realized that he was not going to make it and went to see him in hospice for the final time. On July 29, 2007 Leslie died at 80 years old and had the unfortunate death of dying on his birthday. Leslie never mended his relationship with his brother Alex. He most likely never knew where he was living around this time. It is worth noting that his brother Alex was an attorney and worked for the United Nations and because of his work he had to travel around the world. Leslie was buried in Eastman, Georgia where Ruby was from and where Ruby would also be buried in 2017 when she was 96 years old.
Andrew R. Nicholas 