Obituary of Nicolina Mort Kaukonen

Nicolina Mort Kaukonen, aged 73, passed away on February 1 after a 5-year, courageous battle with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. She was born on July 29, 1950, in Steubenville, Ohio, and grew up in Midland, PA.  In 1970, she married Gary Kaukonen, and they lived in Beaver, PA, but left for a month in 1972 when they backpacked throughout Europe.  In 1974, she gave birth to her loving son Erik, while working at the local Westinghouse plant as a fork-lift operator.  In 1978, she decided to change careers and obtained her real estate license.                                   

When they moved to Maryland in 1986, Nicki continued her real estate career and was named REALTOR of The Year in 1999, elected President of the Anne Arundel County Board of REALTORS in 2004, and was then elected to be the Maryland State President of the Women’s Council of REALTORS. During this time, she also managed two, top real estate offices in Annapolis and Ellicott City, MD.

In 2008, they moved to Sun City Center, FL, and Nicki was soon elected to the Board of Directors of the SCC Chamber of Commerce, became the Secretary of Haven of Hope, a local 501(c)3 charity, and became one of the top REALTORS in the Greater Sun City Center area.

Nicki loved traveling throughout the USA and visited over 40 states.  She and Gary also visited Fiji, Egypt, Australia, Greece, Hawaii, Great Britain & many other countries throughout Europe.  Often times, Erik, Jenny, and Andrew accompanied them or joined them on the 30+ cruises that they took. Truth be told, Las Vegas, Biloxi, or any city or cruise ship that had slot machines was a special target for Nicki’s adventures.

Once back in SCC, Nicki was very involved in one of her other passions – line dancing.  She became a very popular teacher at the Community Hall for over 10 years, and she also enjoyed playing bingo with her friends on Monday nights. 

Nicki is survived by her husband of 53 years, Gary, her amazing and talented son, Erik, her super chef daughter-in-law, Jenny, her computer guru grandson, Andrew, and her wonderful sister, Kathy Mort & her significant other Joel Anderson, along with her sister-in law, Christy Kaukonen Siler and her husband, Craig, besides a host of nephews and nieces.  She will be dearly missed by all who knew her.  Arrangements by Sun City Center Funeral Home, 813-634-9900.