GARDENDALE, Ala. (WIAT) — Rodney Page didn’t get to know his father the way others did.

He was 12 years old when his father, Joe, was shot and killed during a robbery at the J&J Drugs pharmacy he co-owned in Gardendale. Before then, Joe was something of a leader in the community, Page said.

“He helped build Gardendale,” Page said. “He had the first drugstore in Gardendale.”

Page said it was pretty common for his father to wake up in the middle of the night to help a customer with a prescription or to help someone who needed it.

“He helped a ton of people out,” he said. “It’s because of that reason [that] his life was taken.”

On July 14, 1980, Joe Page was about to close the pharmacy for the day when a man and woman walked in. Later that night, he was found shot dead inside the business. Witnesses remember seeing the couple driving away from the pharmacy after the shooting.

“They preyed on his kindness in order to rob him, kill him,” Page said.

On March 12, Phillip Sapp and Jackie Sue Nichols were arrested during a high-speed chase and charged with Page’s murder. Nichols, whose fingerprints were reportedly found on the rear door of the pharmacy, was 26 years old while Sapp was 29.

In 1982, Nichols was tried and convicted of murder, later being sentenced to life in prison. Sapp would later plead guilty to manslaughter and later died in prison. In 1996, Nichols was granted parole, serving 14 years in prison.

On Tuesday, Nichols will stand before the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles, where she is requesting a full pardon. According to Page’s family, Nichols had previously applied for a pardon in 2004 but was denied.

Page said he and his family live with the grief of their father’s death every day and that granting Nichols a pardon would only add to that hurt.

“She’s already been paroled and now she wants to have her rights restored,” Page said. “It’s almost a slap in the face to the family.”

Others in the Gardendale community have made their feelings known about the possibility of Nichols receiving a pardon.

“My question is why does the Page family have to continually re-live the murder of their loved one,” former Gardendale Mayor William Noble said in a statement sent to the board. “I strongly object to this pardon and believe Ms. Nichols should have to live with this for the rest of her life.”

“The mere thought of granting a pardon to Jackie Sue Nichols is unconscionable,” current Gardendale Mayor Stan Hogeland said in a statement. “I have heard from countless citizens who feel this way as well.”

Page said that to this day, Nichols has never made any attempt to contact the family or apologize for the murder.

“My daddy used to take care of her family and this is how it gets repaid,” he said.

Attempts to reach Nichols for comment were unsuccessful.