Dwight Vance Nichols

Year Inducted: 2025

Dwight Vance Nichols was truly dedicated to the people of Wilkes County. He served as editor of the Wilkes Journal-Patriot for nearly 50 years, spanning from 1932 - 1981 at which point he became Editor Emeritus until his death in 1983. In the beginning, he covered Wilkes news and sports, while also writing editorials and serving as a local correspondent for the Winston-Salem Journal and the Associated Press. He is remembered for his many contributions to Wilkes County - most notably to youth, education, schools, the community college and the hospital. During the flood of 1940, Dwight set out to ferry messages, telegrams and stories out of Wilkes to let the outside world know what was happening. The uplifting editorial he wrote after the flood was among his best known and was credited with being a remarkable piece of reporting.

Dwight helped to shape public opinion to support building a place of recreation for youth, thus contributing to the first post-WWII project, the YMCA. Dr. Howard Thompson, former Wilkes Community College President, expressed that he felt Dwight helped enlighten people who opposed consolidation of the local public schools, helping to bring about the efforts that led to the strong high school system in place in Wilkes today. Mr. Nichols is credited for helping generate public funds for building Wilkes Community College which he later noted was the "Harvard of community colleges in North Carolina”.

Former schoolmate Kyle Hayes described Dwight as a non-partisan and unobtrusive observer of the local scene and noted that he respected Dwight's judgment and appreciated the information he gained from Dwight's newspaper articles. In his position as editor, Mr. Nichols interviewed President Gerald Ford, Presidential Nominee and later President Ronald Reagan and several North Carolina Governors. He attended the inauguration of Governor Jim Holshouser where he was invited to spend time with governors from several states as well as a number of other guests. John W. Hubbard, co-publisher of the Journal-Patriot, noted that "Mr. Nichols had a lot of strong character traits and among them were maturity and self-control, a person with a pleasant personality who had respect for others regardless of their status, and he had a great deal of self-confidence. Dwight devoted his life to what he considered was the best for Wilkes County and its people and was an ethical journalist.”

Dwight was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine from Governor Jim Hunt, the Ernie Pyle Award, a national award for writing, the North Carolina School Bell Award for his news stories regarding the needs of Wilkes Schools, two North Carolina Press Association Awards and several other accolades during his tenure with the Journal - Patriot. Dwight served on the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis - Wilkes Chapter Executive Committee, the War Mobilization Board for Wilkes County, the North Carolina Unemployment Commission Advisory Council, the Organization of Civilian Defense - Wilkes Executive Committee, the Wilkes County Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Wilkes Defense Council, Journalism Counselor for the Vocation Guidance Conference for Wilkes area high schools, and numerous service organizations.

Speaking about his editorials, Mr. Nichols once stated, “We try, of course, to back whatever we believe is in the best interest of Wilkes County people. We believe our existence wouldn’t even be justified if we didn’t do that. We try to use our editorials to guide public opinion into the channels which we believe would be helpful for the progress of the area. Our editorials are necessarily critical on some subjects because we believe people will not correct bad situations unless they know about them.”

Mr. Nichols was a loving family man. The youngest of thirteen, he was born in Wilkes on March 3, 1910 to David Vance and Sarah Julia Nichols. He graduated from Wilkesboro High School, attended business school in Winston-Salem and was active in Center Baptist Church and in the Wilkes Lions Club. He was a celebrated gardener, earning accolades for a hybrid of sweet corn that he developed along with his brother, Ted Nichols. His legacy includes his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren as well as his love for the people and progress of Wilkes County.