Nicole Hamilton

Nicole Vilair Hamilton, age 98, passed away peacefully on Monday, February 27, 2023 in her home in Chicago Heights. Mother of Helen Bredeson (Gary), the late Robert Walsh Jr. (Elizabeth), Catherine Lynch (Ken) and the late Patrick Walsh.  Grandmother to Christopher, Albert, Kate, Robert, Samuel, Anna and Patrick and Great Grandmother to eight. Nicole was born in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France and grew up in the town of Epinal. Nicole was a teenager during World War II and participated in La Resistance as an interpreter as she was fluent in French, German and English. After the war Nicole served as an interpreter for a US Army captain named Robert Walsh, who she would decide to marry after knowing him for 6 weeks and move to the U.S., much to the sadness of her loving parents, Albert and Marcelle Vilair. Leaving behind war torn France on a civilian transport Nicole landed in New York and then took a train to Chicago where she found a flat, booming metropolis, very different from the Epinal where she had grown up.

Nicole was greatly loved by her four children.  She taught them about gardening and flowers (including her two boys, much to their delight) and early in their lives ingrained in all of them a love of animals. Horseback riding entered her children's lives as teenagers, and not wanting to be left out, she happily joined in. She became an excellent rider and eventually owned her own horse. Nicole also always had dogs, starting with the German Shepard her children grew up with to the beautiful little white terriers she raised and bred. Nicole was influential in ensuring that each of her children graduated from university.

Evening correspondence courses led Nicole to a teaching degree that gave her an income, independence, and a career. She and the late Robert Walsh Sr. divorced and later she married the late Guy Hamilton.

Nicole spoke with a thick French accent her entire life and she maintained much of her French culture with wonderful cuisine, vegetable and flower gardens, and an active lifestyle. An incredible woman of resilience and fortitude, she drove a vehicle and kept a large garden late into her 90's, along with always having dogs and staying active in her community as a volunteer and neighbor. She was adored by her family and members of her community and was grateful for their love.

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