Former Washington High School principal and legislator Jan Nicolay died of cancer Saturday, and people from across the state are joining in remembering her lifetime of achievements and sharing the story of her legacy.
She was the first woman to be named a secondary education principal in Sioux Falls when she started at WHS in 1987, and was the first woman to take a leadership role in the South Dakota Legislature when she served as House chair of the Appropriations Committee from 1987-1996, according to past Argus Leader reporting.
Nicolay was also an assistant principal at Patrick Henry Middle School in 1983. She told the Argus Leader in 2015 that when she accepted the position there, many raised concerns and objections.
“Secondary administrators had always been men who were perceived as physically strong. There was a common belief that if you were a woman, you couldn’t handle the discipline necessary in a school,” Nicolay told the Argus Leader in 2015.
While principal at WHS for nine years, Nicolay oversaw the school’s transition out of what’s the Washington Pavilion today in 1992 to its current site on the northeast side of town. She later served two years as principal at Roosevelt High School and as interim director of Southeast Technical College in 2001 for a year.
As an educator, Nicolay remained involved in South Dakota Education Association over the years, where she discovered SDEA had no educators in the Legislature. So, she ran and served 14 years in Pierre, from 1982 to 1996. She was also appointed to the South Dakota Board of Education Standards for four years, starting in 2004.
More: Whatever Happened To: Former principal Jan Nicolay
Both Sioux Falls School District assistant superintendent Jamie Nold and board member Marc Murren remember Nicolay as a strong and compassionate educator and leader.
Nicolay hired Nold as a math teacher and coach at WHS 29 years ago, and Nold “thoroughly loved working with Jan,” he said.
“I always appreciated the fact that she communicated very clearly and very openly, directly,” he said. “One thing that you always knew with Jan is she loved kids, and she had a big heart for all kids, especially to make sure those that weren’t always represented well, she represented them. She stood for them, fought for them and did a lot of great things.”
Nold remembers how Nicolay created a daycare near WHS when it occupied the Pavilion space, so high schoolers with children of their own could get care for their kids while continuing with their education.
“At that time, that was a difficult conversation,” Nold said. “She truly fought for kids in all different ways.”
He also pointed to Nicolay’s service as the director of at-risk programs and the principal of Irving, the first alternative high school, which is now the Joe Foss alternative program. Today, the campus offers an individualized approach for high school students to earn their diploma.
Murren said he considered Nicolay a friend for years as a fellow educator, through her involvement with the SDEA and her legacy of leadership at WHS.
“She and her husband Jerry were both very compassionate about kids,” he said. “She’s a very good human. Her heart was always open for kids.”
He told a story of a time when he was still teaching social studies and coaching at WHS, and students started to get into an altercation in the parking lot. He and another coach started to break up and separate the crowd when Nicolay walked out of the building with “no fear.”
“She started barking orders, and people started listening,” he said.
Murren also said Nicolay is the one who got him involved in running for, and serving on, the school board. She also donated to his campaign and board member Dawn Marie Johnson’s campaign.
Rep. Tony Venhuizen (R-Sioux Falls) wrote in his South Dakota Governors blog Saturday that one of Nicolay’s proteges in the Legislature, former Rep. Jim Putnam (R-Armour), served as appropriations chair for 16 years, then mentored current Senate appropriations chair Sen. Jean Hunhoff (R-Yankton), and former Sen. Deb Peters (R-Hartford), who chaired the Senate appropriations committee for four years.
Venhuizen said that Hunhoff is the longest-serving woman in the history of the State Legislature, and that Nicolay, Hunhoff and Peters are the only women to chair the appropriations committee in either chamber of the Legislature.
“She will be missed by many, but her legacy will be long remembered, and even longer felt,” Venhuizen wrote of Nicolay.
Even after serving in the Legislature, Nicolay remained politically active. She helped open the Outdoor Campus in the summer of 1997, convincing former Gov. Bill Janklow that it belonged in Sioux Falls. South Dakota Searchlight credits her with helping lead efforts to defeat abortion bans in 2006 and 2008, and with early meetings on the latest ballot measure to restore abortion access.
Her passions included hunting, fishing and riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Later in life, she continued teaching as a substitute in the Chester area.
Nicolay’s graveside service is set for 12 p.m. Thursday at the South Dakota State Veterans Cemetery in Sioux Falls, followed by a celebration of life 2-4 p.m. at the Outdoor Campus. According to her obituary, she requested people not send flowers, but consider donating to the Outdoor Campus, Promising Futures Fund, Jerry or Janice Nicolay Scholarship Fund or Ava’s House, where she received hospice care.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls remembers Jan Nicolay, former Washington High principal
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