Alias Don Nixie

I saw this item for sale on Ebay: home-grown sheet music from 1937, with only the cover page included in the listing:


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Naturally I was interested, but wondered how it was I had not heard of a Don Nixie in all the 1930s newspapers I've read. I clicked on "Buy It Now," of course, and while waiting for it to be delivered, I set about trying to find out who Don Nixie was. I came up empty. Not the slightest trace of any Don Nixie in or around Hobart, in the 1930s or any other time.

When I finally got my hands on the sheet music, I understood why: "Don Nixie" was a nom de plume.


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The last time we saw Don Niksch, it was July 1923, and he was seven years old and recovering from injuries inflicted on him by a hit-and-run driver on the Lincoln Highway.

He did recover, and as he grew up, he proved to have a talent for music. Here's a photo of him from 1934, when he was a junior at Merrillville High School and played the piano in the school orchestra:


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Image from the Merrillville High School Mirror yearbook of 1934, courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

Now it's springtime back home again — that is, it's 1937, and Don is a 21-year-old aspiring songwriter/composer. His day job may have already been what he reported in the 1940 Census: clerk at a steel mill. He lived with his parents, Edward and Tillie (Harms) Niksch, in the old farmhouse on the south side of the Lincoln Highway, shown here in the 1939 aerial view:


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Photo from https://legacy.igws.indiana.edu/IHAPI/.
The Niksch farmhouse and the Harms house have both been demolished. The old schoolhouse is still standing, as is the Niksch home that would be built in 1955.

Don served in the Army during World War II. In June 1944, he married Ruth Nagel.[1] The 1950 Census shows the young couple with two little children living on Colorado Street in Hobart. The home on the Old Lincoln Highway where Don and his family eventually lived was built in 1955, per the county records, so that may have been when they moved back here from Hobart.

He continued to write songs and entertain family and friends with them. Here's an example from 1948:


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Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 13 Feb. 1948.

His eldest child, Donna, began performing as well, and in this article we learn that Don had written a song celebrating "Hobart, U.S.A., Our Old Home Town":


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Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 9 Feb. 1954.

(I cannot find any evidence that he ever wrote a song about Ainsworth, or even Deepriver. Hmm!)

At a 1958 meeting, Donna sang the song that inspired this post, and her six-year-old brother, Douglas, also got involved in the entertainment:


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Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 30 June 1958.


Unfortunately, Don's life was cut short by cancer. This obituary from the Hobart Gazette of November 26, 1975, summarized his work, his family, and his art:

Donald E. Niksch, age 59, of R.R. 2, died November 19. He was a life-long resident of Hobart, and served during World War II as a Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. He retired as a supervisor after 33 years at Gary Sheet and Tin Mill, and was presently employed as a teacher at River Forest High School. He was a life-long member and former president of Trinity Lutheran Church and served as host of the Lutheran Vespers Radio Program for many years. He was also past president of the Ainsworth Community Club and past Cub Master of B.S.A., member of the American Guild of Authors and Composers, the Optimist Club, Indiana University Alumni, Indiana State Teachers Association and the National Education Association. He will be remembered through his many plays, poems, and songs.

Survivors include his wife, Ruth; two daughters, Mrs. Merrill (Donna) Douglass of Atlanta, Georgia and Diane Niksch at home; four sons, Captain Richard (Marilyn) Niksch with the U.S. Air Force at Clovis, New Mexico, Douglas (Beverly) Niksch of Highland, Roger Niksch and Ronald Niksch at home; five grandchildren, Andrew, Michael, Bryan, Stephan, and Susan; one sister, Mrs. Clifford (Leona) Carpenter of Hobart; two brothers, Laverne Niksch of Hobart and Edward Niksch of Garden Grove, California; and inlaws, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Nagel of Hobart.

I came across the obituary of his daughter, Donna, and found that she had continued singing her Dad's songs throughout her life.


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Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.), 4 Aug. 2019.

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Those who are musically inclined (or just curious) may download the sheet music for "When It's Springtime Back Home Again" here.

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[1] That is, according to a family tree on Ancestry.com. I have not been able to find online a record of the marriage or any mention of it in the local papers.