Nikola Jeane Preusser, age 54, passed away on Friday, November 16, 2018 after a two-year battle with cancer.
She is preceded in death by her parents Monta “Mike” and Winifred Munson Preusser. She leaves behind devoted partner and friend Tammy Allen, her loving sisters Michele Preusser Riedel (Chuck) and Kelly Preusser Eddy (Greg), niece Krista Riedel and nephew Michael Riedel.
Nikola grew up the youngest of three girls and lived in many places as a child. She was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, and lived in Charlotte, NC; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, Ill; Roanoke, VA; St. Petersburg, FL, Dallas, TX and then Dunwoody, GA where she graduated from Dunwoody High School. During her childhood she was always a talented performer, focusing on dance until her teen years and then the dramatic arts. Nikola attended the University of Georgia and graduated with a degree in Drama. She received numerous accolades for her dramatic performances in college and in stock theater in the Atlanta area.
Nikola worked in numerous administrative capacities in banking and in architectural firms in the Atlanta area, and had her own business as a graphic designer. She lived in Ellijay, GA from 2004-2017 where she and Tammy raised their two boxers Max and Macy, in their beloved log cabin surrounded by woods and streams and birdsong. Nikola loved to sit on her wraparound porch at the Ellijay house and watch nature unfold around her. She also enjoyed gardening, a talent she inherited from her mother. Nikola loved the state of Georgia and rarely left her home state after putting down roots there. She was an enthusiastic University of Georgia football fan (always texting “Go Dawgs!” before each game) and she loved all of Atlanta’s professional sports teams, as did her father.
Nikola will be remembered by those who know and love her for her tenacity, her dramatic talents, her sense of humor, her playfulness, and her sensitive nature. The family would like to thank Visiting Angels and Northeast Georgia Hospice for their caring work during Nikola’s final weeks – and we are grateful for the friends who came to visit Nikola during that time, coming from as far away as New York and Minnesota to see her. (You are all very dear to her, and you made her last days brighter with your presence.)
A celebration of Nikola’s life will be held at 11 am, Saturday, December 8, 2018 in the Chapel of McGahee-Griffin and Stewart with Rev. Tom Fish officiating.
An online guest register is available and may be viewed at www.mcgaheegriffinandstewart.com.
McGahee-Griffin & Stewart Funeral Home and habersham crematory both of Cornelia, Georgia (706/778-8668) are in charge of arrangements.
