There are men who build businesses. And there are men who build communities. Gary Lee Nichols did both.

For more than five decades, Gary wasn’t just the owner of grocery stores; he was a steady presence in this community, a mentor to hundreds of employees, a champion for local schools, and the kind of man who quietly said “yes” whenever someone needed help.

Gary grew up in the grocery business. His father bought and refurbished small-town grocery stores, which meant frequent moves and many schools before Gary graduated from Maysville High School in 1962. The constant motion shaped him and later fueled his desire to plant roots.

In a 2017 interview, Nichols said that his family’s grocery career started with his parents, the late John and Mavis Nichols, when they opened their first little store in Fairview in 1939. It had a 25-foot front and was 50 feet deep. They moved to Watonga and opened a store in 1944. From Watonga, it was on to Southard, a “little gypsum mining town,” in 1945.

“We had a general mercantile store with general merchandise upstairs, and groceries on the ground floor.”

Nichols said his father usually sold the stores for a profit and didn’t like to stay around too long. This was all training for the future businessman he would become.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma, where he developed a lifelong devotion to OU athletics. A season ticket holder for more than 50 years, Gary rarely missed a game. Through every winning season and every rebuilding year, he remained what he always was, a loyal Sooner.

While in college, his parents moved to Checotah in 1965. While working part-time at the family store, Gary noticed a young woman named Kay Vandiver. It took returning home after graduation and opening his first grocery store before he convinced her to go on a date. They married Dec. 30, 1971, beginning a 54-year partnership that became the foundation of his life.

Gary worked hard, often seven days a week, leaving before sunrise and returning well after dark. Over the course of his career, he owned and operated 15 grocery stores and employed more than 900 people. But ask those who worked for him, and they won’t talk first about the stores. They’ll talk about the mentorship. The opportunity. The belief he placed in them.

He believed in taking care of employees. He believed in taking care of customers. And he believed small towns deserved strong businesses.

But Gary’s true measure wasn’t found in monetary profits.

He was a faithful member of First United Methodist Church and a longtime member and former president of the Checotah Chamber of Commerce. He served on the Checotah School Board, including as board president, helping guide local education for years. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the National Grocers Association, and proudly served as President of the Oklahoma Grocers Association. He was named the McIntosh County Citizen of the Year and received the Spirit of America Award from the Oklahoma Grocers Association, honors that reflected not just business success, but community leadership.

Service to others was not just something Gary did; it was who he was. It was the steady pulse behind his long workdays, and the quiet motivation that led him to invest his time, energy, and resources wherever there was a need. Helping others wasn’t an obligation or a public gesture. It was simply his nature — the heartbeat that guided his life and shaped his legacy.

He didn’t just attend meetings, he invested time, resources and energy. School programs. Youth activities. Community events. Fundraisers. Local nonprofits. If someone asked, Gary rarely said no.

One of his favorite sayings summed up the way he lived: “No one ever went broke being generous.”

And he proved it. Generosity was at his core.

Gary, 81, of Checotah, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, leaving behind a legacy that stretches far beyond the businesses that he created.

The community has lost a businessman.

But more than that, it has lost a steady encourager, a mentor, a leader and a friend.

As friends and neighbors gathered on March 2, it was clear that the legacy he left behind was not just in business, but in people.