Phillip E. Nice

Phillip E. Nice died in Lafayette, IN on August 3, 2023.  He was 92 years of age, having been born in Clinton County Hospital in Frankfort on November 12, 1930.  He was the only child of Bruce E. Nice and Verda A. Haffner Nice.

Phillip spent most of his first 17 years in the Frankfort School system, graduating with the Class of 1948.  That fall, he moved to West Lafayette, where he enrolled in Purdue University and resided most of his life.

In 1950, he joined Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity at PU, and in 1952, he finished a BS degree in Foreign Languages and English, after which he joined the US Army in Indianapolis and served 44 months on active duty.  His major assignments were to the Russian Division of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, in 1953.  He spent the next two years as an Interpreter of Russian and German in the 532nd Military Intel Bn., 7th Army, in US Occupation Zone of Germany.

After returning home and discharge from active duty in June of 1956, Phillip enrolled in the Graduate School at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Slavic Studies in August 1957 and taught Russian for two years.  In the summer of 1959, he worked for the USIA at the US Exposition in Moscow, USSR.  On his return trip from USSR, Phil made a long-planned stop in Hof/Bavaria to marry Miss Anna Neubauer on September 5, 1959.  He then continued his teaching career at the Minneapolis Campus of the University of Minnesota, and in the summer of 1961 led a class of Minnesota students on a study tour of the Communist states of East Germany, Poland, USSR, Ukraine and Hungary.

In 1965, he joined the Foreign Language faculty of Purdue University, followed by 11 years teaching Russian and German at Indiana University Kokomo, then another 13 years on staff at Purdue University, retiring in June 1993.

The Nices enjoyed much of their free time traveling in Western and Southern Europe, 47 US states, Alaska twice, California and Florida multiple times, Puerto Rico, Canada, from the Maritime east to British Columbia, with and without children, while wearing out two VW Eurovan campers and two Ford Aerostar vans.

Surviving Phil are his wife of 64 years, Anna; daughter, Katrina (Michael) Masterson of Seeley Lake, MT; son, Paul Nice of Tawas City, MI; granddaughter, Niccole Cox, and great-granddaughter, Addreanna N. Hobgood, both of Seeley Lake, MT.

Interment will be in Bunnell Cemetery.  Day and Genda Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.  Messages of condolence to the family are welcomed at www.dayandgenda.com.