...Just a Thought

Took Mom to Whittier for Thanksgiving to spend time with the grand kids on the other side of the family. She had a fabulous time getting to know her adult grandchildren and their significant others. Much to be thankful for! Hope you all had as much fun as we did. Blessings over you.

                                      Norma’s Story

  At around the turn of the twentieth century, Guy Roman Duke was born on a cotton plantation in West Virginia.  When he was 16 years old, he left West Virginia and came to Burley, Idaho to work on farms.  He worked there for several years when he met Adlinda Koyle, a sweet young thing from Spanish Fork, Utah.  The couple dated for a year or two, and they planned to marry, but Guy was drafted and was soon shipped out to fight in WWI.  Fortunately for him, however, the war ended shortly after he crossed the Atlantic, and he never saw any military action.  Guy returned to Idaho in 1919, and he and Adlinda were married in October of that year.

Norma Leah Duke was born to Guy and Adlinda on July 12, 1921 on a farm called Willow Creek in Burley, Idaho.  Shortly after Norma’s birth, Guy had the opportunity to work in the gold mines in Jarbridge, Nevada.  The family increased with the addition of Adlinda’s sister, and they remained in Jarbridge for several years.  It was during this time that Norma experienced the first tragedy of her life.  Little Norma was then about four or five years of age, innocent as a rose, and completely unaware of the evil that was to befall her.  Evidently, the time had come for Norma to have her tresses shorn, and her mother and aunt believed that their experience in domestic endeavors qualified them to tackle this delicate procedure.  Their faith in their abilities was greatly misplaced.  Only a direct quote from the victim herself is adequate to describe the result of the attempted haircut:

“My mother and aunt made such a mess cutting [my hair] that my father had to shave my head.”

In addition, the mosquitos were so bad that poor Norma had to wear a bonnet on her head until her hair grew out again.   I have little doubt that it was this event that planted the seed within Norma to attend beauty school later in life so that others might avoid similar traumas.

When Norma was about six, the family moved back to Burley, Idaho.  They made this trip in a Model T Ford which had the uncanny ability, as remembered by its six-year-old occupant, to run over “great, big rattlesnakes.”  The Duke family settled into a two-room house which evidently lacked not only spaciousness but a decent roof as well.  Norma’s most vivid recollection of the time spent in this house is of a rainstorm that caused the roof to leak water on her beloved doll.  She had only one doll, a rather large one, and the water leaking from the roof completely ruined Norma’s doll.  Let this be a testament to all those who say of children’s tragedies, “Oh, they’ll get over it!”  Clearly, the passage of 84 years has not erased the pain of one little girl’s loss of a treasured possession. 

After Norma started first grade, the Dukes moved into a home that cost the family $600.00.  There was no bathroom, and water had to be pumped from a well, but it had a decent roof and two bedrooms.  The Dukes remained in this home  until shortly before Guy’s death at the age of 91.  Norma graduated from high school in 1939.  She had long dreamed of attending beauty college, so after high school, she moved into a girls’ boarding house in Pocatello, Idaho, and emerged a beauty college graduate nine months later. 

This was not a time of all work and no play, however.  One of her boarding house chums arranged a double-date for herself and Norma, and it was on this fateful blind double-date that Norma met her future husband, Ralph Wheeldon.   Ralph was a handsome, jovial Irishman whose shock of auburn hair and charming manners soon won the lady over.  Ralph was equally smitten, and a few months later, he decided to propose to Norma at dinner on Valentine’s Day.  He was too excited to wait until evening, however, and he took the ring to Norma’s beauty school and proposed to her during class-time.  Alas, as the saying goes, “the course of true love never did run smooth,” and Norma’s parents were wary about the prospect of their only daughter marrying a widower with three children who was12 years Norma’s senior.  Loved prevailed in spite of this, and the couple were married shortly after Norma graduated beauty college on April 19, 1940.  Eleven months later, Norma and Ralph’s son, John Duke Wheeldon was born.  Lenith Rae was born just eighteen months after her brother’s birth. 

Ralph was a florist from the time he was 16 years old, and he worked in the same florist shop for nearly thirty years with the understanding that he would be able to buy it from his boss someday.  Unfortunately, when the time came for his boss to retire, the shop was sold to another man.  Ralph decided to seek opportunities elsewhere, and he quit his job and moved the family out of Pocatello in 1952.   They sold nearly everything they owned, put a rack on top of the family coupe for their few belongings, and left Idaho behind.  It wasn’t until they were on the road that Ralph decided that they should head for southern California, or, as he called it, “the land of opportunity.”   They stayed in only one hotel the along the way—in Las Vegas—and the rest of the time they slept on top of picnic tables in campsites.  It was truly an adventure!

Ralph worked as a salesman in California, and as Norma says, he made a good salesman because he could sell anything.  Ralph understood that the life of a salesman is either one of feast or famine, and he often told the family that they were “either living on chickens or feathers.” Ralph was an adventurer, and he loved southern California, so he often took his family to see all that California had to offer.  The new amusement park that was being built in Anaheim by some gentleman named Walt was of particular interest, and Ralph would often drive by the site and point it out to his children as a place that was going to be even nicer than the Long Beach boardwalk .  The family later moved to Anaheim, and Norma and Lennie both worked at Disneyland shortly after it opened.  Ralph and Norma later became apartment managers in Pasadena, California. 

Ralph was a salesman of fences, awnings, and the exciting multi-level all-purpose cleaner  called, “Swipe,” while in California, but after he had a stroke at the age of 59, he had to give up his job as a taxi driver.  He became a guard and tour guide at Huntington Gardens in Altadena, but his life was cut short by a heart attack when he was 60 years of age.  Norma and Ralph were married for 29 years.

By this time, John had moved out on his own, and Lennie was already married, so Norma headed back to Burley to live with her parents.  She joined a singles’ group several months later, where she met a widowed gentleman named Ralph Mickleson.  The relationship progressed, and Norma and Ralph married Dec. 2, 1972.  In November 2001, Ralph died of complications from pneumonia.  Norman and Ralph were married for 29 years.

So here’s an FYI to any Ralphs who may be attended the party today: if you would like to see another 29 summers, Norma is available.

Norma lived a quiet life in Burley, Idaho until the passing of her husband.  Roger, Lennie, Stephanie, and Eric then traveled to Idaho to help Norma settle her affairs, sell the vast quantities of “collectibles” that she and Ralph had acquired, and bring her back to California.  Roger and Lennie converted the two back bedrooms of their home into a sitting room and bedroom for Norma, and she moved to California shortly before Christmas in 1999. 

Norma’s life changed drastically when she came back to California.  With the encouragement of her daughter and granddaughter, Norma shed the overalls and men’s shoes she had become accustomed to wearing, and became quite the fashionista.  She has had an predilection for leopard print clothing ever since.  Norma had never had a driver’s license, so Lennie suggested she learn how to use public transportation and Handy-Ride to get around.  Norma took to this quite easily, and she got a job in the daycare center at Holy Cross Center for Women in downtown Fresno in 2002.  She retired from that position just a few months ago, but she remains very active.  She keeps her own checkbook, exercises on a stationary bike, takes walks once or twice a day, gets regular pedicures, and loves to go shopping. 

Norma began attending Church of Living Water shortly after she came to California, and she is particularly proud of becoming a Christian in April, 2000.  It was Roger’s honor to baptize her that same year. 

Norma’s family has expanded over the years, and she now has 12 great-grandchildren.  It is her hope to live to see a great-great-grandchild.  She appears to have very good genes, so it is entirely possible that her wish will be granted!

Happy 90^th birthday, Norma!  May you continue in physical and spiritual strength for years to come.

Just a few pictures of an amazing celebration for Mom’s 90th birthday. I want to thank my friends and family for all the help that made it all come together. Thank you Stephanie, Cheri, Janet and John, Pam, Jennifer and my sweet hard working hubby. The food was great and we loved the beautiful cake made by my neighbor, Beverly, from Frosted Cakery. I will be posting Mom’s Life Story written by our talented Cheri Halvorson.