Nikki Hinds '95

One comment on Nikki Hinds '95

1. It’s hard to comprehend that Nikki is gone. She’s been a huge part of my life since freshman year at Williams where we were entrymates in Morgan Midwest. She and her suitemate Jodi Fisler were also from New York and we became fast friends.

   We bonded over our love of animals, movies, literature and 80s music – though her weird ability to channel Axl Rose, complete with his swaying moves at the mic during the opening of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” left me speechless. She was my frequent partner shooting pool in Baxter, Brooks, Dodd and all the other spots on campus that had pool tables.

   She had spooky powers amazed me – sometimes, we’d be leaving one of the dining halls after a meal, and she’d just speak to the universe, “I want to pet a dog!” with her arms thrown wide. I’d laugh…and then a dog or two would come bounding at her from out of nowhere! I swear. This happened. More than once!

   She always made me laugh. I recall one time when it was completely unintentional. She’d gone to some yard sale near campus and come back with this really sad looking flat teddy bear. I mean, this thing was maybe half an inch thick…I told her it maybe once it had been a teddy bear but at some point it had an unfortunate encounter with a steamroller. But she loved that thing. Even now I’m laughing just thinking about it.

   After college, when we embarked on our careers, we frequently got together for meals and movies. I was working in Television and Alan Cumming, who was starring in one of the shows I was working on, had mounted a one-man show of Macbeth off Broadway. I brought Nikki with me to see it and we stopped backstage to say hello. Alan had a couple of friends there and was introducing us. I didn’t think anything of it until Nikki not so subtly started hitting my thigh (hard) – one of Alan’s friends was Gillian Anderson. A diehard X-Phile, Nikki was beside herself in mute disbelief. It was hilarious.

   I was always happy to nurture her inner geek since for many years I worked at SCI FI Channel. She would watch all the shows I worked on and share analysis and critiques. I’m really going to miss those talks.

   But it wasn’t all sci-fi. Nikki really loved her some HGTV. She could explain everything about different home design styles and choices and renovation plans. This was hugely ironic given her go-to move for fixing things around her apartment was to reach for the duct tape. I remember once going to help her with a table that had a wobbly leg. When I got to there, the entire underside of the table and one leg was covered in silver duct tape like she was paper machier-ing the thing. We had such a good laugh.

   She was the person who knew something about everything. I’d call her about any number of topics and she’d know some obscure tidbit that would fascinate me and send us down a rabbit hole of random thoughts.

   Nikki had been sick for quite some time, but she never gave up. She really wanted to be here for her family and friends. All her concern was for them. She was full of life, full of humor and full of love. I am so lucky to have had her in my life and I’m going to miss her so much.