NIBBELINK, Col (Ret) Arion ''Nib'' 

Jan 16, 1914 - July 19, 2009

Nib Nibbelink passed peacefully in his home at the Heritage late 
Sunday night after enduring a nearly three-month battle to 
recover from the combined pressures of a head injury and old age.

A son of the prairie, Nib and his fraternal twin Preston were 
born in Boyd, MN to Anthony and Mathilde Nibbelink. His father 
was the publisher of Boyd's weekly newspaper the Boyd Sentinel.

He grew up as kids in tiny rural towns do, playing and 
adventuring as the seasons allowed, fishing in the summer, 
hitching rides on sleighs in the winter, and hiring out to do 
agricultural labor during harvest time to bring money to the 
family.

Against the financial odds, both he and his brother Pres were 
able to attend and graduate from Augsburg College in St. Paul, 
Minnesota. Nib's major was chemistry, and no doubt his interest 
in chemistry derived from the time he and Pres threw large chunks 
of sodium into a vat of water in the tool shed and blew its roof 
off.

After graduating, Nib briefly sold encyclopedias door-to-door 
before beginning his short teaching career which took him to East 
Grand Forks, Akeley, and Albert Lea, Minnesota. As is common in 
small rural schools, he also coached basketball (with a 7 man 
squad) and once ruefully remembered that his team went 1-11 and 
he was asked to surrender his coach's whistle.

He entered the Army in 1944, went to Camp Barkeley in Abilene for 
basic training and OCS, and shortly afterward shipped out to 
England as a green lieutenant in the Medical Supply Corps. While 
in Wales he met, and married, the love of his life Mary Bennett 
Nibbelink. Shortly thereafter he shipped out to France and then 
to Belgium. After the war ended he mustered out of the Army in 
1946, but three months later the Army came calling again and Dad 
accepted a Regular Army commission and made the Army his life. 
During his career Nib and Mary were stationed at a variety of 
posts, including the Pentagon, Heidelberg (Germany), the Presidio 
(San Francisco), Tripler Army Hospital (Hawaii) and Fitzsimmons 
Army Hospital (Denver). One of his proudest moments in the Army 
occurred while stationed in Heidelberg when his analysis of the 
medical supply logistics necessary to support the Army in the 
case of a Russian invasion through the Fulda Gap prevailed over a 
revision in policy advanced by a three star general.

Upon retirement Nib worked for the state of California in 
hospital planning in Sacramento. He and Mary bought their first 
and only house there and stayed in Sacramento for 36 happy years 
filled with good friendships and many opportunities for golf. 
Nib's last of his 4 holes-in-one came when he was 81.

He was a positive, gentle, playful man who loved small children 
and who always believed the best of people, but had unshakeable 
convictions about right and wrong.

He is survived by his son Mark; sister-in-law Donna; nieces, 
Julie, Catherine, Meryl and Mary; nephews, Bill, David, and 
Michael; and countless friends.

The extended family would like to thank Seton and Cornerstone 
hospitals for the loving care they gave him, and would 
particularly like to thank caregivers Florence Adesoji-Wade and 
Yao Nyekodzi who lovingly protected Dad 24-7 when he most needed 
it.

A memorial service to celebrate Nib's life will be held at 9:00am 
on Monday, September 7, 2009 at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 
11430 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks, CA 95628-5157, reception to 
follow at the church.

Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar 
Blvd., Austin, Texas 78705 (512) 452-8811. Obituary and guestbook 
online at wcfish.com 

Published in the The Sacramento Bee on September 7, 2009