Nicolas West, 29, Bismarck, passed away March 13, 2023. Memorial services will be on Monday, March 20, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. at the Bismarck Funeral Home. The service will be livestreamed on the Nic’s page on the funeral home website.
Nicolas (Nic) Grady West was born on September 16, 1993, in Worms, Germany. Nicolas was a loving son to Mike and Kristin West, and he became a loving partner to Alexis and an even more loving dad to their kids: Aubrey Rose, Aiden Michael, and Andre Matthew.
Nicolas attended Rita Murphy Elementary School, Simile Middle School, and Century High School, where he graduated with the class of 2012. During his time at school, Nic played baseball (6 years) and football (4 years), but his true passion was discovered when he started racing. He loved being on that race track every Friday and would race with everything that his car had. His racing motto was “GO BIG or GO HOME!” This was no more apparent than when he won the Drive to Survive Race (Breast Cancer Awareness) in honor of his mom, who at that time was being treated for breast cancer. It was on the track that we all learned something about Nicolas. From him, we learned that even if he had a bad night or felt he was cheated, he wasn’t going to stop racing and that there would be another race the next week, often saying, I am leaving this race here on this track, and I will be back next Friday to show them what I have. We learned that even when it didn’t seem right or fair, we would get another Friday to show those around us what we really could do.
For the past six years, Nicolas worked at Capital Heights, where his co-workers became a second family. Nic was one heck of a great mechanic, always willing to help. His passion for his job and for cars didn’t develop when he started working at Capital Heights, but when he was just a little kid, you couldn’t go into a store without Nic leaving the store with a brand-new car to add to his collection, a collection that seemed to include every HotWheel every made.
Nicolas was kind and always had a smile, especially around those he loved, and that included the many four-legged friends that he acquired because Nic never met a dog who he didn’t love and who didn’t love him back, including his last best friend Maggie Mae, who was with Nic until the end.
Nicolas was great with kids, his younger cousins, his nephews, and his own. He loved them, and they loved him. Nicolas simply was a great dad!
Nicolas is survived by his parents, Mike and Kristin West; his siblings, Alexia, Skyler, and Kaitlin; his partner Alexis and their three children, Aubrey, Aiden, and Andre; two nephews, Elijah and Bentley; grandparents, Dennis and Pam Freier, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and of course his Maggie Mae.
He is preceded in death by his grandparents Darrell and Gloria West, and great-grandparents on both sides of the family.