Nichols takes reins of Posey County CA

Josh and Ashley Nichols enjoyed working together at the Posey County Council on Aging Summer Fun Day. Photo by Lois Mittino Gray

By Lois Mittino Gray

Josh Nichols, the newly-named Executive Director of the Posey County Council on Aging, can call a mean bingo game. He demonstrated his flair for working with people while announcing numbers for that game oldsters love to play at the PCCA Summer Fun Day held at the Mount Vernon Center on Tuesday, June 30.

His personality shone as he quipped and bantered about the numbers he called out. “I’m pretty sure B-10 is a vitamin, isn’t it?” he joked as the group corrected him to B-12. “I mistakenly called B-3 instead of B-8, I must have only seen half of it!” B-4 brought out a rousing chorus of “Before What?” in reply from the crowd. He ate up all of it and enjoyed himself as much as the players before handing them Dairy Queen or McDonald’s gift cards as prizes.

The new Director just started his position the week before on June 22 and already he was comfortable and familiar with his aged audience. “Before this, I ran my own company, but I wanted to get involved in our community and find something that is a good fit for my personality and skill set. This is for me,” he emphasized.

Nichols says he was intrigued when he saw an ad for the open position. “My wife and I owned our own business as a consultant in organizational leadership and thought it might be a good fit. I focused on organizations that needed a change in their structural leadership and helped guide them through these changes to be more streamlined and efficient. I connected them with resources to be more effective and promote sound interactions,” he explained of his past work.

Originally from Booneville, Nichols did his undergraduate studies in Theology to become a Pastor and earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, with a concentration certification in organizational leadership. Both were earned at Union Bible Theological Seminary in New Albany, Indiana. “I started on a doctorate, but it was too hard for me balancing work, home, and school and I found myself in Gateway with some medical problems,” he recounted. “I slowed down and quit it, but still am very busy.”

Josh and his wife, Ashley, are co-Pastors at St. Peter’s on the Hill, a nondenominational church on St. Phillips Road in Evansville. “I preach and she does the music at the weekly services, but really I think she is a better preacher than me,” he confessed. Ashley is the daughter of Troy and Angie DeKemper, a respected pastoral team in Point Township and has much experience with singing and churches. “In fact, we first met at her dad’s church,” Josh recalled.

Ashley is also employed as the Director of Transportation for the Mount Vernon School District and is busy this summer replanning the bus routes. The couple lives in Point Township with their two sons, Jonah,16, and Oliver, 13. Oliver even was there to help his dad sell raffle tickets at the Summer Fun Day.

Nichols was wowed by the great turnout of over 70 participants and 22 vendors at the Summer Fun Day. “This is a great organization, and I hope to encourage sponsoring more social events like this. We have a good Meals on the Move program and I would love to expand it. We sponsor exercise classes, health checks, craft and game days, and organized bus and airplane trips to many different places.”

He credits the Posey County Council on Aging’s success to its employees and volunteers. “I give much credit to Beth, Jenny and their team,” he said. “I hope to help them coordinate all of this and help in a fundraising capacity and also do some grant writing for them.”

“Mainly, I want to encourage a higher profile for the PC Council on Aging in the community. Do enough senior citizens know what we offer and do here? I don’t think so. To me, this is one of Posey County’s Hidden Secrets.”