What happened to Luther and Nora

I am really fuzzy on this, but I will give it my best shot. In my elementary years they were in the house on McFaddin.

What happened to Luther and Nora?

This is a 2007 photo of the McFadden duplex. Luther and Nora lived on the right side. When they lived there the front porch was bigger and had a porch swing.

I recall that Linda and I were in the porch swing, on our knees, facing backward. We leaned forward unbalancing the swing and it flipped lickety split and I got the wind knocked out of me.

They stayed there up into my Jr High years. At some point they moved to a rent house near Chester’s family…just for a short time and they moved to a house on Corley Street for the rest of my jr high school period . Grampa was an irascible dude and hard for Nora to live with. He couldn’t see so he wouldn’t let her have a TV. She had rheumatoid arthritis (which Janice also had in her later years) and as it progressed she could no longer work.

During my high school years they moved to an apartment on Lucas Drive. it was probably only 500 yards from the Horn Street house ‘as the crow flies’. I think this may have ben a government subsidized living arrangement.

This photo is of them in their last apartment.

As their health deteriorated, Mom and Helen moved them to a skilled care facility where they shared a room for a while. Luther was so abusive toward Nora that they were eventually separated. This must have been around 1966 or so. They continued to live in the nursing home until their deaths in the 70’s.

At this point in my life I feel guilty for not visiting them more and certainly not getting their stories.

Mom or Helen visited them EVERY day in the nursing home. This kept the caregivers on their toes. What a love offering from their daughters!

Gramma died 6 November, 1977. I am pretty sure that the RA and complications lead to her death.

This is the Golden and Thomas clan - less Kathy and me (photographer) following Gramma’s funeral. We must have flown in from Chicago for the event.

Grampa lasted about 6 months longer. He died on 4 June 1977. They are both buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Beaumont.

Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, the stars of this movie Christmas with the Cranks, go by Luther and Nora, my grandparents’ names!