Monica Codman-Nicholls Obituary (1943 - 2021)

Monica Codman-Nicholls Monica Codman-Nicholls passed away peacefully in her Beaufort, South Carolina home on January 31, 2021, following a long battle with a rare autoimmune disease. A fiercely courageous and adventurous woman, Monica's bright spirit is reflected in the varied chapters of her life's story. Monica Ortiz was born in Valparaiso, Chile on December 7, 1943, to parents Rachel and Fernando Ortiz. She was very close with her father, and was heartbroken at the age of nine when her father unexpectedly passed away. Monica made the difficult decision to leave her first husband and beloved Chile during the country's political unrest in the early 1970s. She and her young son, Fernando, fled to New York City, where they lived for a short time before relocating to Boston, Massachusetts. Monica flourished in Boston, remarrying and welcoming a second son, William Codman. She took classes at Harvard University, and spoke several languages fluently. Following the end of her second marriage, Monica found a fresh start in England in the 1980s. A continuous learner, she began taking classes at a local college and it was there that she met her life partner and husband of more than three decades, Andrew Nicholls. Monica and Andrew were married on January 6, 1989. The couple later adopted their niece, Emilie, raising her alongside Monica's sons. In the mid-1990s, the family moved to the United States, living in Champaign, Illinois before purchasing their home in Beaufort, South Carolina in 2001. Monica's autoimmune disease continued to progress and in 1999, she needed a liver transplant. In a miraculous turn of events, Andrew was determined to be a match and he gifted her 60% of his liver in one of the first living donor liver transplants of its kind in the United States. The running joke was Andrew always knew Monica married him for his body - he just didn't know how deep that would go. Monica lived for more than 21 years with her husband's donated liver. Monica loved to travel. She enjoyed all kinds of art, culture and music - everything from the guitar riffs of Carlos Santana and ABBA's disco hits to the classical melodies of Frederic Chopin. And if there was music, Monica was guaranteed to be dancing away with a cheeky grin on her face. Despite the physical challenges of her illness, Monica lived life to the fullest. There wasn't an animal or person-in-need Monica wasn't willing to help and she volunteered with several non-profit organizations over the years, the most recent being DragonBoat Beaufort. Friends and family remember Monica as a vivacious woman who loved to host dinner parties filled with laughter, music and Chilean food. She is survived by her husband, Andrew, and three adult children: Emilie, Fernando and William. In lieu of flowers, the family asks you to consider donating in Monica's memory to one of the following: PBCers Organization, whose mission is to educate and support Primary Biliary Cholangitis patients, family members and friends, and to raise funds to help research the causes and cure for PBC. https://pbcers.org/ DragonBoat Beaufort http://dragonboatbeaufort.org The family will receive friends at St. Peter's Catholic Church on Friday, February 12, 2021 at 2:30pm with Rosary at 3:00pm. Funeral Mass will begin at 3:30pm.