Trent Nickell

CV alumnus dead in San Diego hospital; of unknown cause

By Jennifer Berry

There are those people in life who light up a room just by stepping through the door. They are the ones who always make babies smile and animals wag their tails. That’s the type of person Jette Nickell said her youngest son, Trent, was.

“He was a warm person,” she said. “He was just the most friendly guy you’d ever meet.”

The 1995 Crescenta Valley High School graduate, who was in his second week of treatment at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego for a sleep disorder and depression, was pronounced dead March 15 in his hospital room. He was 26.

The results of an autopsy have shown no obvious cause of death and are still pending, according to the San Diego Coroner’s Office.

Jette Nickell said she was shocked when she heard the news. She had just talked the night before with her son, who was being monitored for his condition, and she said he was expecting visitors that day.

Trent was the youngest of Jette Moller Nickell and Charles Nickell’s five children, all of whom attended Monte Vista Elementary and Rosemont Junior High schools and graduated from CVHS.

Besides playing volleyball for CVHS, Trent played years of A.Y.S.O. soccer, Little League and Babe Ruth baseball as well as for the Glendale Bears football league.

In addition to playing sports during high school, Trent, an animal lover, played guitar for his alternative rock band, Parking in Rear.

“Music was a real big part of his life,” his mother said, adding that the video at his service will be set to some of his favorite music.

After high school graduation, Trent had attended Del Mar Professional Golf Academy in San Diego, hoping to use his 300-plus yard drive to become a golf pro or teacher. While studying in San Diego, he obtained three massage-therapy licenses.

Trent’s mother said her youngest always had a smile for those he knew. Those he didn’t know, she said, usually got one as well.

“He was the spark in our family. He’ll be sorely missed because that spark has faded,” she said, adding that her son was proud of being half Danish.

Trent was preceded in death by his father, Charles Nickell, who died last month, and by his maternal grandmother, Anny Moller.

Moller, who owned Moller’s Jewelers and was the first female president of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce, died last October.

Jette Nickell said one way she and her surviving children have been coping with the deaths, especially Trent’s, is by looking toward the future.

“We just look forward to the good stuff that we have,” she said, adding that Trent’s sister, Kristine Poole, is expecting another child this summer. “You have to live on, and with new babies you do that. Through new babies and the expansion of your family life you do that.”

Trent is survived by his mother; sisters Kristine Poole and Brenda Cardinale; brothers Brad and Troy Nickell; adoring nieces and nephews Marisa and Katelyn Poole of La Crescenta and Tyler, Cole and Brooke Cardinale of San Diego; and paternal grandmother Florene Garner.

The family welcomes all who would like to attend a relaxed service at Flintridge Preparatory School, 4543 Crown Ave., La Cañada, at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 27.