Mary Lee Talbot
Staff Writer
Chautauquans are used to having different generations in the same family continue a family legacy — sailing, golf, ushering at Sunday worship, carrying a banner for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle’s Recognition Day parade.
But, it is not often that three siblings carry on a family tradition at the same time. For Rob, Dave and Eric Nickeson, that tradition is singing in the Motet and Chautauqua Choirs.
Earlier this season in Week Two, all three brothers were in the Motet Choir. Rob, a retired pediatric rheumatologist from the Tampa, Florida, area; Dave, a retired internist from Galveston, Texas; and Eric, a retired healthcare finance accountant who lives in Chautauqua year-round, were among the choir’s members — a group that ranges in size depending on the week.
Rob and Dave started singing with the Motet in the late 1980s; Eric started around 1998. Eric has become involved in the Community Music Project in Jamestown, in both the CPM Chorale and the Chamber Choir, and he sings with the Community Choir in Fredonia. That choir is joining other choirs in London in June 2026.
Their family bought a house at the corner of Hurst and Andrews in 1961 and their father, Robert Nickeson, an ophthalmologist, sang in the Motet Choir in the 1980s. Their mother, Jean, sang in the Chautauqua Choir. Their sister Betsy sang in the Chautauqua Choir; sisters Carol and Nancy play piano; and sister Priscilla is a graphic artist.
“Singing is so rewarding,” Eric said. “It is a pleasure to blend with other voices. The Motet is like a family, even though different members come and leave at different times.”
