Gloria Jean Nicks, left, is seen in a family photo with her son Anthony Mapp, his wife, Christina Mapp and Christina Mapp’s mother. Nicks was killed Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2019, when a public bus hit her in downtown Las Vegas.
Friday, Jan. 24, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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Hosea Hopkins fondly remembers the old 1964 Buick Wildcat his older sister bought him, especially the golden-brown car’s obnoxiously loud rattles. It was the perfect first car for the teenager who couldn’t afford a vehicle on his own.
But Gloria Jean Nicks was always there to help her younger brother. From their childhood into their senior years, the siblings maintained a special bond in which they spoke on the phone almost every day.
Death interrupted that bond Wednesday night when Nicks, 75, was struck by a public bus as she walked in a marked crosswalk in downtown.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office had not identified Nicks as of Thursday, but Hopkins was upset that Metro Police categorized Nicks as a transient.
Nicks, the matriarch of the family, not only had roots here, he said, she also had a home and a son.
Police said Nicks was on Bonneville Avenue about 11:40 p.m. when she was hit by a Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada bus, which was turning left from Main Street.
She died at University Medical Center, police said.
Nicks, who was born in Oakland, Calif., also lived in Texas, Idaho and Las Vegas — where she lived twice, this last time for about 15 years, Hopkins said.
Nicks was already in high school when Hopkins was born, taking on the responsibility of looking out for her brother. As he grew into adulthood, she took on the role of a mentor. So many people believed Nicks was his mother, that it became a long-running joke in the family.
Nicks was a retiree after having been a housewife for a good portion of her life. She is survived by three children. She was also Hopkins’ last living sibling, he said.
Hopkins, 61, said his sister cherished life, and being that she made it to age 75, she was “happy to be here.”
His wife, Kim Hopkins, remembers a sister-in-law who immediately accepted her into the family some 30 years ago. She would take the phone from her husband and she and Nicks would just chat for hours, she said.
Nicks, who liked to go by her middle name, Jean, was a “warm and wonderful person,” Kim Hopkins said.
She was always meticulously dressed but didn’t like her photo to be taken. She loved to bake pies, especially those made with sweet potatoes. And she excelled in gumbo and soul food recipes.
Kim Hopkins lamented that her sister-in-law died in a tragic way rather than of natural causes. If she’d died as an “old lady in her bed,” or as something as common as a heart attack, that would be more tolerable.
The fact that she was hit by a bus, Kim Hopkins said. “That’s not fair.”
