Born in Lincolnville, Waldo County, Maine, Nichols "grew up over his family's gas station along U.S. Route 1.
[1] Nichols served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II,[2] and thereafter entered private practice in Camden, Maine.
[1][2] Nichols recalled that he had no interest in serving in the state judiciary, but he was appointed to the Maine Superior Court "after then-Gov.
James B. Longley arrived in a helicopter in front of Mr. Nichols' Lincolnville Beach home in 1975 and asked him to serve".
[2] In 1985, Nichols wrote the unanimous decision of the court upholding the conviction of serial killer James Hicks.