Pearl Nickels

Pearl Fisher (Carlson/ Wagner/Ochsner) Nickels, 92, died Feb. 8, 2024, in Glasgow, marking the end of a colorful life that included music, art, education, long friendships and livestock. She worked hard at whatever she set her mind to, but she never missed an opportunity to visit with friends and strangers alike.

Born with her twin sister, Ruby, on July 9, 1931, in Sidney, she quickly grew to love helping her parents, Fred and Dorothy (Miller) Fisher, on the family farm. She saw her parents survive the Great Depression on the strength of their milk cow herd, giving her a lifelong fondness for dairy cows.

A lifelong learner, she valued education, attending Mount Pleasant Rural School and graduating from Sidney High School in 1950. She attended the University of Montana in Billings where she earned a teaching degree and then taught in one-room country schoolhouses.

In 1953, she married William E. Carlson and they resided on the farm northeast of Circle on Prairie Elk, where they farmed, raised beef cattle and milked cows. She was an accomplished musician and they played for dances at schoolhouses and dance halls all over eastern Montana.

Always game to try new things, she learned how to artificially inseminate cows and worked as a representative for an AI company. Three sons, Ernie, Robin and Brad, were born to Pearl and Bill before they divorced in 1968.

For several years, she worked on ranches inseminating cows and selling AI components. She was very involved in bringing different breeds of cattle into Montana beef herds. In 1971, she married Richard Wagner and they resided on the Wagner Ranch northeast of Nashua. Son Todd was born in 1972. They later divorced.

She then purchased a small farm near Nashua. She married Leo Ochsner in 1985 and they enjoyed several years of travel, car club activities and art shows before his death.

She enjoyed all kinds of art, particularly creating her acrylic paintings of livestock and wildlife.