Energtic 80-year-old Ian Nicholas spent Saturday morning tending to the garden at his new Woonona home.Just before lunchtime he went to visit a former neighbour at Corrimal. It was to be a fateful trip.On his way home, as Mr Nicholas turned out of Albert St onto the Princes Hwy, his ute and two motorcycles collided.
Riders speeding before crash: witnessMr Nicholas and a 37-year-old motorcycle rider from Sutherland were killed.Mr Nicholas' partner, Ellen Greig, had been in the garden with him earlier that day and was at home when the accident happened.Yesterday, she remembered a "marvellous man" with a thirst for knowledge and boundless energy."He just loved life, loved working, loved seeking knowledge in any form and he was very scientifically minded," Ms Greig said."In the morning (of the accident) we were out in the garden and everything was fine."It's very sad."Mr Nicholas had been a metallurgist at BHP for decades and loved anything to do with mining and science. "He was always asking questions," Ms Greig said."Anything he didn't know he just got on the phone and asked. If he wanted to know something and the Queen knew, he'd ring her."He loved all scientific shows on the TV and on the wireless."Even in his later days, even making bread we still had to measure everything with his little tube - he was very accurate about measurement."Long-time friend Sam D'Arcangelo agreed."He was always interested in something new to learn. You'd think he was a young lad," Mr D'Arcangelo said."Whatever he did was very accurate, as accurate as it could be."Mr Nicholas, who had two children and four grandchildren, also loved gardening, fishing and sailing and made his own boats.He would swim three times a week and monitored his food like a carefully measured experiment."A lot of people found him exhausting," Ms Greig said."It's sad and a loss but he lived 80 good years. He did everything he could, he never stopped."
