Nicole Nowak Obituary

Nicole Nowak attended Spash High School in Stevens Point, WI. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Nicole Nowak.

Graduation Year	Class of 1993
Date of Passing	Jul 05, 2003
About	Woman's death dims a 'bit of light' Family recalls murder victim's love, spirituality By KATE GARSOMBKE Journal staff Nicole Odegaard was prone to roller-skating with fairy wings strap-ped to her back, collecting monarch butterflies in jars and letting out a good howl whenever she saw the full moon. "She greeted everyone with a hug, and left everyone with an 'I love you,' " said her mother, Nancy Nowak. Her happy, easygoing nature was evident from the first time people would meet her, family members said. "A little bit of light is going to be going out of everybody's life," Nowak said. Nicole, 28, died Saturday morning in her town of New Hope home, after being shot by her husband while she slept. Jay Odegaard, 43, then turned the gun on himself. Nicole had two children from a previous relationship, Jasper O'Keefe, 10, and Daphne O'Keefe, 8. "The biggest joy in her life was her children," Nowak said. Her mother remembered Nicole telling her about rolling down a hill with her children two years ago at a fireworks display. Nicole believed in doing things herself. She made elderberry wine, grew vegetables in her garden and gave herself homemade tattoos. Eventually, she persuaded her mother to let her tattoo a small, blue flower on her right earlobe. "I thought, 'I've got to prove I'm not a wimp.' So I let her tattoo my ear," Nowak said. "We froze it with an ice cube with a potato behind it." She was a vegetarian, a lover of nature, and liked tending to plants in her garden. She would let out rabbits she kept in a hutch in the back yard into a fenced-in garden to munch on greens while she worked in the garden. "She'd rather be outdoors than in," her mother said. "She loved being in the country." Nicole also told her two children about flowers that were safe for eating. She cooked vegetables she grew for family and friends. "She even had us eating her weeds," said Ryan Good, a family friend. "She made us dandelion omelets." Nicole changed jobs and moved often in the community, but she had a big circle of friends. Nicole loved animals, unicorns and crystals, but above all, fairies. She and her daughter would roller-skate and spread glitter "fairy dust" on friends. She had a fairy tattooed on her arm. "She believed in magic," said her niece, Andrea Bronk. She was appreciative of life, was strongly spiritual and always made sure she told family that she cared about them, family members said. "Her parting words were always, 'I love you, Dad,'" said her father, Frank Nowak. "She never left without saying that."