I married John R. Nice, Jr. in 2002, and our son was born the following year in 2003. John and I separated in 2007 and divorced in 2009. John is a member of the Nice Family of Jacksonville, Florida. John is a high school physics teacher. John’s mother, Carol (Martin) Greene Nice Bennett (image below) is from the Martin Family of Florida. Carol’s parents were Elizabeth “Bessie” (Robinson) Martin and Elmer Martin of Florida. This article will provide information and photos of some members of those families, as well as the Hintermister’s, who were cousins to the Nice’s due to Betty Jane (Hintermister) Nice marrying Clarence Carter Nice, Jr.
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- Carol Bennett, Florida, 2004
Carol was married to her third spouse, Arnold (“Art”) Bennett, who has passed, and Bob is married to his third spouse, Marilyn Nice. Carol has two brothers, Louis and Charles (“Buddy”) Martin. They are both married and have families. Carol also has two sisters. Her older sister experienced late stage breast cancer and died before I knew her. Her younger sister is Rachel (Martin) Hunter, who is married to Charles Hunter, and they have two daughters, Kelli and Brandi. Carol and her family were raised in Live Oak, Florida during their childhood.
Arnold Bennett, Third Spouse to Carol
Carol is Art’s second wife; he had four children with his first wife, two sons and two daughters. Art is a Vietnam War military veteran.
John Nice, Jr. Dancing with Rachel (Martin) Hunter, Jacksonville, Florida, Summer 2002This photo shows John Nice, Jr. dancing with Rachel (Martin) Hunter, the younger sister of his mom, Carol, in 2002.
Matt, Brandi (Hunter) and Baby Boy Brown, Tallahassee, Florida, Christmas 2005
Bob and Marilyn Nice, and Baby Nice, Snellville, Georgia, 2003
This image is of my son as a newborn with his grandparents, Bob and Marilyn Nice when they came to visit and welcome the baby. Marilyn has two daughters, including one who is adopted. This is Marilyn’s second marriage and Bob’s third.
Additional members of John’s family include Janet (Greene) (Nice) Hebson Adams, Natalie (Nice) Tuttle, Jason Nice, Janet’s son, Carter Nice, and Krissy Nice, an adopted sister of John. Photos of them are included later herein. Janet is a half-sister of John; she is divorced from her first husband, and is married to her second husband. Natalie is married to her third husband, Ben. Jason and Carter Nice are John’s half-brothers. One is married and has a family. The other has never been married, has a son, and is separated from his son’s mother. John also has a second adopted sister, Jenni (Nice) Robison, who is married and has two daughters. Krissy is divorced, and does not have children. John’s has a sister, Natalie, who is an attorney. Her three children are adopted through marriage.
Janet, Mike, and Son, Wedding, Jacksonville, Florida, 2003
This photo reflects Janet (Greene) (Nice) Hebson Adams with Mike Adams and Janet’s son from her first marriage. Mike also has a daughter from his first marriage.
Janet (Greene) Nice Hebson (and later, Adams) with Penny Nice, Jacksonville, Florida, Christmas 2001
Both this photo and the following one are those that I took at the Nice Family Christmas Party in 2001.
Jimmy Nice, Jacksonville, Florida, Christmas 2001
The Nice’s-Meghan, Krissy, Carter, Jamie, and Jason, Jacksonville, Florida, 2001
Ben and Natalie (Nice) Tuttle and Family, Georgia, 2004
Christian, Stephanie, and Baby Girl Nice, Christmas 2004
The Nice Boys-Carter, Jimmy, and Bob, Florida, Circa 1948
This photo shows the Nice boys performing at a church service or concert in Florida around 1948.
Clarence Carter Nice, Jr. and Betty (Hintermister) Nice and Sons, Circa 1945
This is a photo of the Nice Family around 1945, showing John Nice, Jr.’s father as a toddler (the younger boy) with his brother, Clarence Carter Nice, III, and their parents, Betty (Hintermister) Nice and Clarence Carter Nice, Jr. The boys’ youngest brother, Jimmy, had not yet been born. Betty attended college from 1931-1935, graduating in May 1935 with a B.S. in Commerce, I believe from the University of Florida. She took many business, math, and economics classes, as well as Spanish and psychology.
Elizabeth Nice, Mother of Clarence Carter Nice, John Nice Jr.’s Great Great Grandmother (Image on Porcelain), Circa 1900
The Nice’s were well-known in Jacksonville, Florida because Dr. Clarence Carter Nice and his son, Clarence Carter Nice, Jr. were symphony conductors there. Dr. Nice was also known as “Pops.” Clarence Carter Nice, Jr. also owned a music store in Jacksonville, which, following his death, has been continued by his sons, Bob and Jimmy (now deceased).
Dr. Clarence Carter Nice, Florida, 1934
Dr. Clarence Carter Nice and Friends, Circa 1930s
Dr. Clarence Carter Nice and Mrs. Nice, Florida
Starlight Symphonette, Conducted by C. Carter Nice, Jr., Jacksonville, Florida
Clarence Carter Nice, Jr. at his Music Store, Jacksonville, Florida, November 21, 1995 (Photo by John Pemberton from the Jacksonville Times-Union)
The Nice’s were big in the Jacksonville, Florida music scene from about 1930-1980. Clarence Carter Nice, III has been a prominent and successful symphony conductor in California, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather in being successful symphony conductors.
The Nice’s and Hintermister’s, Circa 1950
This photo shows the Hintermister’s (on the left) and the Nice’s (on the right) from about 1950 in Florida. The Nice’s and Hintermister’s are cousins. From left to right in the photo are Sam Hintermister, John Hintermister, Cril Hintermister, Clarence Carter “Carter” Nice, III, Jimmy Nice, and J. Bob Nice. Sadly, Jimmy struggled with and was lost to cancer a number of years ago. All of the others are still living. Sam is married and has adopted children; John is a widower (Candy) and has an adopted son, Josh; and Cril is a bachelor. Carter is married to his second wife, Jennifer, and has one daughter with her, Olivia; they live in California. Carter is divorced from his first wife, and has two children with her, a son and daughter, Christian and Danielle. Jimmy’s wife is Penny, and they have a son and daughter, Jamie and Meghan. Jamie is married.* And, I have described about Bob throughout this article.
Divorce in the Nice Family began with Clarence Carter Nice, Jr., when he divorced from Betty. He married his second wife, Jean, and he adopted her children, a son and two daughters. The cycle of divorce was broken with Jimmy Nice, who remained married to his only wife, Penny. The cycle of divorce, however, was continued in both Carter and J. Bob Nice’s families when they became divorced. J. Bob Nice is divorced from his second wife, Karen (McLane/McLain) Kirton Nice. Divorce has further continued with John Nice, Jr. due to his divorce from me in 2009. Most adults in the Nice Family, and half of the adults in the Nice’s extended family, therefore, have been married and divorced at least once. Three generations of single and/or multiple divorces presently exist in the Nice Family.
John Hintermister
This photo is of John Hintermister, father of Sam, John, and Cril Hintermister. He is a decorated military veteran, and is at rest in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, D.C.
Marguerite Hintermister
This image is of Marguerite Hintermister, wife of John Hintermister. I believe these photos of them were taken at or prior to their attending a military ball. I’m not sure of the year in which the photos were taken. Marguerite was the sister of Betty Jane (Hintermister) Nice, who married Clarence Carter Nice, Jr.
Marguerite Hintermister in her Later Years, Florida
Marguerite Hintermister on 100th Birthday, Florida (Photo by Jill Gutmann, Jacksonville-area Newspaper, 1989)
Cril Hintermister Playing With Baby Nice, Waynesville, North Carolina, 2005
Bob Nice and John Hintermister (the Younger), Jacksonville, Florida, 2002
Mrs. Hintermister lived to be a centenarian. This photo of her was taken on her 100th birthday while she was a resident of the North Florida Special Care Center. She was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania in 1989, and moved to Gainesville, Florida in 1940.
So, all of this information and images lead back to my family, including my son, who is descended from the Babcock’s and Nice’s.
References and Sources:
Guttman, J. (1989). Photo of Marguerite Hintermister. Jacksonville, Florida-area newspaper.
J.C. Penney Portrait Studios (2004). Babcock-Nice Family Photos. Jacksonville, Florida.
Pemberton, J. (1995). Photo of Clarence Carter Nice, Jr. in accompanying newspaper article about him. Jacksonville, Florida: Jacksonville Times-Union.
Photos and information of Michele Babcock-Nice from 2002-2013 (2014). Snellville, Georgia.
Photos and information of Natalie (Nice) Tuttle from 1900-1960, Jacksonville, Florida. Those included herein currently the property of Michele Babcock-Nice (2014). Snellville, Georgia.
Other photographers/photo sources of professionally-taken photos, unknown.
blogbymichele 
Today, the following comment was left by Meghan Nice, my former husband’s cousin, with my edit of the end of her post to maintain privacy of minors: “Thanks for sharing all of this information of my family. It’s interesting to me that you have access to all of this and the photos. Although mostly accurate, not completely. There was mention of Justin Carter Nice, Bob’s son and Jason’s brother, that he was separated from the mother of his child, which is not the case. Carter is in fact married to the mother of both of his children. Jamie, son of Jimmy, is also married to his one and only wife for 7 blissful years now. So with all this talk of divorce in the Nice family, maybe there is still hope for”…[your son]. Love, The Nices
Hi Meghan, It’s so good to hear from you after all of these years. You must be quite grown up by now. I appreciate your comments on my article, and for providing some corrected information about our family. When family members don’t keep in touch, information sometimes is inaccurate. Having been formerly married to your cousin, of course I would have awareness about our family, although it is obviously not all current; as well as owning Nice family photos. The photo that includes you is one that I took, myself. Thanks, again, for your information about our family. Best, Michele
*Author’s Note: Please note that I have edited this article to reflect some of the information provided by Meghan Nice in her above comment. I did review the article, and believe that no inaccuracies were made. Information that was not known was merely excluded or written in a vague manner. In a prior version of the article, information about Jamie Nice being married was not included because that information was not known. Additionally, the information about John Nice, Jr.’s half brothers is correct because I did not specify which status (either married or separated) was attributed to which man. I simply stated that one was separated and the other was married without naming them. Therefore, I will maintain that information as is since it is correct. For any further detail, please refer to the first comment above in which I have quoted and edited that of Meghan Nice.
*Second Author’s Note: It came to my attention today that the prior message that came to me from Meghan Nice may have actually come from Penny Nice since it appears that it was Penny’s email address that was used to post the comment. Penny is Meghan’s mother.