Jeannette Nichols, 98, was a long-time member of the Kansas City Branch of the English-Speaking Union. She was very active in the ESU in 1970s and 1980s.

She and her husband, Miller Nichols, were generous benefactors for the arts in Kansas City and, in 1981, they commissioned the beloved bronze statue of Winston and Clementine Churchill on the Country Club Plaza titled “Married Love.” The $250,000 statue was created by British sculptor Oscar Nemon who produced several Churchill works. The Plaza statue is a larger version of the original that sat at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, where Churchill was born and later proposed to Clementine. The two works on different continents would pay homage to Churchill’s British and American heritage—his mother Jennie was from New York.

To help pay for the sculpture, the Nichols garnered support from The English-Speaking Union Kansas City Branch, which arranged a theatrical production about Churchill’s life to spark interest. Held at the Folly Theater, “Churchill” starred Roy Dotrice and played for one evening on November 28, 1982. The benefit performance succeeded in raising the funds needed to complete and maintain the piece. Nemon’s sculpture was dedicated May 12, 1984, with Churchill’s granddaughter Edwina Sandys and the Duke of Marlborough in attendance.