Nicole Aimee Lemieux was born in New York City on October 30, 1968.  Her family lived in Greenwich Village.  Nicole’s mother, Lily, was a nationally exhibited artist and taught art in the N.Y.C. public schools.  Nicole’s father, Barry, was an executive at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, an organization founded by the late Robert F. Kennedy to revitalize the Bedford Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn.  Barry was responsible for spearheading the development of a cable television system to serve that community.

 

     Nicole attended the Greenwich Village Montessori School where she captivated the school’s Directress who described her as –

 

     "... a bundle of energy, a magnetic force in the classroom.” 

 

     In 1974, the Lemieux’s moved to Springfield, Ohio. Nicole’s father had been named a Regional Director at Continental Cablevision of Ohio. There, she and her younger brother, Peter, attended a local Montessori School before entering the public school system. While in Ohio, her mother taught art at Urbana College.

 

     It was in 1978 that the family moved to Newburyport. Nicole’s father had become a principal in American Cablesystems Corporation, a newly established telecommunications company based in Boston. Nicole’s mom was very active in community affairs and served as Chairperson of the Custom House Maritime Museum.

 

     Nicole attended the Newburyport public schools and, in 1986, graduated from Newburyport High School (NHS) where she excelled academically, finishing near the top of her class (#3), as well as in extracurricular activities -- playing field hockey, serving as president of her junior and senior classes, being prom queen and co-editor of the yearbook. In short, Nicole was a standout. Nonie Olsen, a classmate of Nicole’s and one of her closest friends growing up, recalled:

 

 

       "Nicole was one of those people who was everywhere, involved in everything.She left anyone who knew her with a special feeling.She was one of those people who touched everybody.Everyone she knew had a story to tell about her.”

 

While a student, Nicole also had various part time and summer jobs. Her favorite was being a caregiver and running errands for an elderly woman, Mrs. Potter, who lived alone in the neighborhood. She grew to adore her and loved being of help to her. Nonetheless, Nicole always managed to find time to be with her classmates. Nicole’s brother, Peter, described what it was like living with his sister on High Street ---

 

         “When I was growing up, our home was, as my mom referred to it, Grand Central. Study groups in the morning, class meetings in the afternoon, late-night hanging out after Cumberland Farms turned out the lights. Our kitchen never knew quiet when Nicole was present.”

 

Nicole attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where she majored in psychology and fine arts. After graduating in 1990, she moved to New York City and worked as a media planner at Saatchi & Saatchi, a global communications and advertising agency. She then joined the magazine publisher, Conde Nast, where she helped launch an updated version of Details Magazine.

 

     Changing directions, Nicole moved to Paris to attend the famed Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, where she received her “Le Grand Diplome” in 1996. Back in New York, she helped open Nick and Toni’s Café and then managed the launch of Balthazar’s Bakery in SOHO.

 

     In 1998 Nicole returned to Newburyport to help care for her mother. She returned to New York after her mother’s death and pursued a career in her life-long passion: fashion. She took courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology and created a successful eBay enterprise, Love and Rockets, which marketed affordable designer clothing. In the words of her brother, Peter --

 

           “Nicole was really fearless, she could cross subcultures and relate to all kinds of people. I think that made changing careers easy for her.There wasn’t an environment that she couldn’t successfully transcend. She didn’t want to lead a boring life, even after the diagnosis.”

 

     Nicole was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2001 and gallantly fought the disease every step of the way through surgery, chemotherapy, and alternative strategies such as yoga and meditation. She also sought out others who, like herself, were battling the disease. They shared their experiences and offered emotional support to one another and through this process became close friends and confidants. 

 

     It was in Paris in 2002, a year or so after being diagnosed, on the anniversary date of John Lennon’s birthday, that Nicole met her future husband, Andrew Knight. Exactly two years later, on October 9, 2004, they were married in Edinburgh, Scotland.         

 

     In 2005, pregnant, Nicole learned her disease had returned. Despite her bravery and loving care, she died on October 14, 2005, three weeks after giving birth to a daughter, Sophia Lily.  

 

     On October 22, 2005, the Frank E. Campbell Chapel in Manhattan overflowed for her funeral.  And a week later, many braved the cold, rainy weather at a candlelight vigil held at Newburyport’s Atkinson Common.          

 

     At these memorial events, there were many who extolled Nicole’s exceptional qualities. Fellow breast cancer sufferers spoke of how Nicole’s positive “fight it” attitude had inspired them in their efforts to survive.  Her friend Kimberly Garfunkel sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” to a tearful audience.  And her family and friends, new and old, offered remembrances of her life cut short but so fully and uniquely lived.