Obituaries

Survivors include two daughters, Lizann Peyton of Norwich, Vt., and Sarah Peyton Weiser of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and four granddaughters.

-- Patricia Sullivan

Ruth C. NicholsPurcellville Businesswoman

Ruth Carter Nichols, 82, a co-owner with her husband of a Loudoun County appliance store, died July 5 at her home in Purcellville. She had complications from colitis.

Mrs. Nichols co-owned Nichols Appliance Center in Purcellville from 1964 to 1989.

She was a Leesburg native and a 1942 graduate of Leesburg High School. During World War II, she trained briefly as a nurse and worked at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington.

In retirement, she was a volunteer at what is now Inova Loudoun Hospital. She also was a driver for the American Cancer Society and delivered food to the needy for the Food Closet.

She was a member of Junior Woman's Club of Loudoun and the Home Interest Club of Purcellville, a women's group.

Survivors include her husband of 62 years, Milton A. Nichols of Purcellville; three children, Robert M. Nichols of Oak Island, N.C., David C. Nichols of Berryville, Va., and Mary Susan DeHart of Kernersville, N.C.; two sisters, Catherine Taylor of Warrenton, and Janet Hudgins of Franklin, Va.; seven grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

-- Adam Bernstein