Couple slain in Newport Beach remembered for their kindness, faith

Hundreds of friends and family members of Kim and Richard Nicholson poured into the Newport Beach Mormon church on Bonita Canyon Drive, Saturday, March 2, to mourn the deaths and remember the lives of the couple found dead in their home in mid-February.

The Nicholsons were remembered for their kindness and faith, with speakers at the funeral recalling how they were always available to offer guidance or to just listen.

“They were there every time I had a heartbreak,” said James Harrell, the Nicholsons’ nephew.

Harrell said his mother, Kim Nicholson’s sister, “struggled with stability” when he was growing up. Kim Nicholson was there, he said, treating his family like her own.

“There wasn’t a birthday or Christmas that went by without knowing how much Kim loved her sister and family,” Harrell said.

Kim and Richard Nicholson and their housekeeper, Maria Morse, were found dead in their home in a gated community in Newport Beach on Feb. 13. The couple’s son Camden Burton Nicholson has been charged with three counts of murder.

Richard Nicholson was the CEO of West Pacific Medical Laboratory in Irvine.

Harrell had stayed with the couple for a few years, working at the medical lab. During that time, Harrell said, he was lost and confused about his future.

Richard Nicholson was there to help, Harrell said.

“It doesn’t matter what you do,” Harrell recalled Richard Nicholson telling him. “As long as you stay close to gospel truth and do what’s great.”

Cavin Nicholson, the couple’s other son, said Saturday he talked with his father all the time about issues he was going through. And his mother, Cavin said, always pushed him to be the best he could be.

“My parents showed me the world,” he said.

The Nicholsons were longtime church members — for five years, Richard Nicholson served as a counselor assisting Doug Owen, a local bishop.

“He didn’t give me anything but good advice,” Owen said. “Even if some advice was tough.”

Those in attendance, Saturday, said they believe Kim and Richard Nicholson are in a good place. “They are in the arms of our eternal father,” Owen said. “They are in paradise.”

But for those left, the speakers admitted, it’s going to be tough to imagine their lives without the Nicholsons.

“I lost my brother, my biggest friend – my father – and my biggest critic – my mother,” Cavin Nicholson said. “I’m trying to understand what happened.”

He stood silent for a few seconds: “I’m at a loss for words.”