Nelle Livingstone BOOKOUT
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth: Oct 19, 1922 - Grover, N.C.
Christening:
Death:
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Events
1. Occupation in chemist; teacher elementary, middle school, high school and junior college
2. Education, 1942 in BA Chemistry, Queens College, Charlotte, NC
3. Education, 1967 in MEd University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 1967
Spouses and Children
1. *Josephus Gaston NORMAN (May 22, 1922 - Sep 3, 1986)
Marriage: Jul 13, 1944 - Greenville, South Carolina
Status:
Children:
1. Josephus Gaston NORMAN Jr. ( - )
2. Laura Lee NORMAN ( - )
3. Joey NORMAN ( - )
Notes
General:
Nelle was the fourth child of eight born to Arthur and Carrie. She was named for Miss N. Meldona Livingstone, July 9, 1873- February 22, 1948, who was her parents' school teacher in Grover. Miss Livingstone's tombstone in Grover Cemetary reads: "She Went About Doing Good". Nelle always points out that being in the middle meant she had no special place in the family: She wasn't the first boy or girl, or the youngest boy or girl. And she wasn't special like her sister Modelle for having red hair. So she had to develop strategies for being noticed and for getting her share. Her parents struggled with a large family in the Great Depression, so they were not rich materially, but the family developed strong bonds and strong beliefs which have survived their lifetimes.Medical:
The eight children slept in two bedrooms, each containing two double beds. Clothes were handed down and remodeled. Getting something new if you were a middle child was very unusual. Christmas meant one doll for Nelle and Modelle to share. Nelle remembers the doll not lasting even one day before Modelle would pull its head off. Another Christmas, the doll had eyes that looked real and closed. Before Christmas was over, Roy had poked the eyes in trying to understand what made them work.
Nelle apparently was something of a ringleader for mischief with her other siblings. She quotes her mother as stating, "I can handle the rest if only Nelle goes to my sister's". Nelle remembers hiding under the bed to avoid chores and reading after lights out under her blanket. She was assigned to iron the starched pillowcases. The family ironed almost everything, including the men's underwear, sheets and all outerwear. In the kitchen, she was assigned to peeling. She relates that the result of this assignment was that she never learned to cook, but she could peel anything.
She was good at school and found that was a place she could get some individual recognition. When A.R. had articular rheumatism in the fourth grade and was home in a wheelchair for months, he picked Nelle to help him. He wanted her to read to him and tried to show her up by giving her a sixth grade text to read. She managed to do a credible job with him supplying some words for her. Her reading skills, already exceptional took another leap in proficiency. She helped her siblings with their schoolwork and says Dick would have never passed French and gotten out of high school without her help. When Roy broke his leg, she read to him and ribbed him forever about how he avoided work by breaking his leg. When one of the boys got in trouble at school they could be assigned to pull wild onions in the school yard. Nelle remember pulling hundreds of wild onion plants and tying them into bunches to help her brothers.
The family life was church centered. The family attended Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Charlotte and First Lutheran Church in Greensboro. Nelle was confirmed by Pastor Shenk in Greensboro. The family moved as the Southern Railroad transferred their father. When Nelle was born they were living in Grover, but moved early to Charlotte, living on McDowell Stree. This was a new brick home, which looked alot like the Habitat for Humanity homes being built today. The lot was large and there was room for a garden in the back. The Depression arrived and jobs became more scarce. In order to keep a job, Arthur accepted a transfer to Greensboro, which meant a cut in pay since the job was not on a main rail line.
The family lived in Greensboro for Nelle's 7th through 11th grade years. They first rented on Silver Avenue, in what was not such a good neighborhood. Homes were not easy to find to accomodate eight children. It was a two story brick house. Next door was a church of a religious sect Nelle describes as "holy rollers". This was because they had loud and exuberant services in which there was screaming and crying and even chairs thrown out the windows. Nelle was glad her church was not that way. Once when Arthur was out of town, a man came to the house in the night and stole the tires from the car. Then he came to the door with a gun and demanded money from Carrie. She told him, "there's no money in the house because my husband is gone and I have only eight children here". Thankfully, the man left satisfied with the tires.
Soon they moved to a brick house on Lindell Road. It was one of several houses that circled a park with a creek. When their mother napped in the afternoon, the Bookout kids would be in the park, damming the creek, wading, or building forts with the porch chairs. Their neighbors were the Melts, who were Greek. The smell of onions and garlic came from their house at breakfast, which was amazing to Nelle. Thier children Milton, Victor, and Gus were great companions and they would share their "Greek beans", a round salty, nut-like bean, with Nelle. The Melts owned a bakery that produced scrumptious baked goods. Josephine worked for them and was always kind to the bunch of Bookouts hanging around hoping for a sweet treat.
The family then bought a house on Northfield Street in Greensboro. It was on the steps of the front porch that Roy broke his leg and managed to get out of work for an entire summer. Nelle remembers a night she had been dropped off at choir practice at the church and her parents had gone to a movie at the Carolina Theatre. Mr. Woods the choir director came into the church and told the choir to come out and look at the strange cloud that was outside. While they were standing there looking at the green-black sky, the roof of the near-by A&P Grocery landed on the church lawn. They hustled back into the church. A destructive tornado plowed through town. The theater was not damaged, but the lights went out. The manager came out on stage and told the audience that a tornado had destroied all of Sunset Hills, which was the Bookout's neighborhood. When her parents picked up Nelle, they were distraught because they believed that all the other children were dead. Thankfully, there was only minimal damage at their home and all were safe.
When Nelle graduated from Greemsboro High School she was only 15 years old. She had entered school one year early, because she could read and her mother wanted her out from under foot. Later she skipped a grade because she was so proficient in her studies. Nelle always felt it was a mistake to allow grades to be skipped as it placed her in social positions that were uncomfortable because she was not as mature as her peers.
About 1938, the family moved back to Charlotte, living first at 635 Lamar Avenue in a rented house. Nelle remembers the phone number was 38044. Later they purchased a home on Oakland Avenue, but sold it when the creation of Independence Boulevard took most of the yard. The last house the family had in Charlotte was on Charlotte Drive, but Nelle never lived there as she was working in the mountains by this time.
Nelle's mother was an expert at stretching food to feed ten. One chicken could be cut up so that all got a bit. Nelle swears she always got the neck. One pound of round steak could also feed ten and maybe a guest or two on Sunday. Thankfully there was always copious amounts of wonderful gravy and biscuits. In the summer the children would often be sent to Grover to spend time with Aunt Mayme. She also expected them to work as the farm provided the family's only income. Mayme was selling fresh produce to the WPA camp nearby. They would pay $.10 for a bushel of shelled peas and the more hands to shell the better.
Nelle completed a Bachelor of Arts cum laude at Queens College in three years, graduating in 1942. Her last courses were taken in summer school at UNC Chapel Hill. Her major was chemistry and minor was biology. She was a member of the Sigma Nu invitaional honor society in chemistry. She was a day student and had to arise early and take two different buses to get to Queens on time. She did not have the money other students in this private school had, but she excelled in her classes and always had a knack for making friends and finding a way to have a good time. In Chapel Hill she had even less resources for the summer. She figured out that if she could get a boy to take her to a meal, she could eat without paying. She dated a lot of guys that summer.
Nelle's mother had strong ideas about whom her children should marry. Nelle was supposed to marry Gene Graber. Frances was supposed to marry Walter Sharp. The pick for Jean was Jimmy Ammons. Perhaps it was because their mother was so strong-minded that all of the children rebelled and chose their own mates. It always made their mother angry and when Nelle married Joe she refused to come to the ceremony. The men were going off the war and no one knew what the future would bring. Nelle had been serious about one or another of the young men she knew, but she did not want to be tied down.
When she graduated she could not initially find a job as a chemist. Women did not typically work in technical jobs, but the war was changing that. Her father told her he had paid for her education, now it was time for her to get a job. After all, he had others to educate. She took a bookkeeping job with the telephone company for a short time. She was always good a math and this was an easy job for her to learn. Then a chemistry professor from Queens called with the information that a paper mill in the mountains might be looking for a chemist. Her brother and mother took her to an interview and she was hired to do quality control analysis for the Ecusta Paper Company in Pisgah Forest, NC. She lived in a boarding house in Brevard initially and shared an apartment with a girl friend, Alice Porter for a time. She met a handsome man named Joe Norman, who worked in the physical testing laboratory, and knew he was the one for her. Joe, however enlisted in the Army Airforce and left for basic training. Nelle then took a better paying job at the Enka Corporation in Enka, NC. She was doing basic research on rayon and its uses. She could not forget Joe and in July 1944 he came back on leave and they were married.
Joe and Nelle traveled by train to Caspar, Wyoming where they found a room in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Highlands. Nelle discovered she was pregnant and found the smell of cooking mutton, which was a staple in the Highland household, repulsive. She never would eat lamb after that experience. One day after playing cards with Mrs. Highland, Nelle, who was wearing spectator pumps, tripped on loose linoleum on the stairs and fell. She was knocked unconsious and the blow even changed her vision, reversing her astigmatism direction. Her skull was cracked just at her left eye brow. She was nursed back to helth by Mrs. Highlands who was a registered nurse and treated Nelle just like a daughter.
After Nelle was well they found a small efficiency apartment where they would have the luxury of not sharing a bath. The apartment had no refrigerator, but in Caspar it was cold in winter, so cold that one could put their food requiring refrigeration out on the window sill and keep it safely. It was in this small apartment that Nelle and Joe celebrated their first Christmas.
Joe left for work one morning and soon came back early with the news they were moving to Salina, KS> They boarded a train by 5 that afternooon, with all their worldly goods in a duffle bag. Nelle well remembers walking around Salina with the duffle bag trying to find a place to stay. Housing was scarce because of the influx of military personnel. The first place they rented was a room in a private home. The homeowner was as mean as anyone Nelle had ever encountered. She described service people as "dirty" and announced that they could not stay after the baby was born. Thankfully after 3 weeks they located a duplex to rent. The duplex was heated with gas, with which neither Nelle or Joe had any familiarity. In the living room there was a vented gas heater, but the heater in the bedroom was not vented. The landlady said that they probably wouln't need to use the bedroom heater unless it was very cold.
Joe's sister Ruth came to visit, and probably saved their lives. It was a terribly cold night, 18 degrees below zero, and they decided to turn on the bedroom heater. Some hours later Ruth awoke with a pounding head ache. She thought it might be the gas. She tried to rouse Joe and he was hard to awake. They could not awaken Nelle and carried her outside. Rescue was called and the police told the landlord she had until the end of the day to vent the heater or go to jail.
It was not long before Joe was transferred to Lincoln, Nebraska to be sent overseas. While he was gone, Nelle fell on some ice and began labor. Joe was able to return for the birth of Laura, but left shortly thereafter for Guam.
Nelle's father traded his rationing coupons until he accumulated enough to buy spare tires and enough coupons for gas to make the trip to Kansas to bring Nelle and Laura back to North Carolina. Laura was six weeks old at the time of the trip. Nelle then stayed in Charlotte with her sister Frances, who had two babies and an husband also away at war. Nelle took pictures of Laura and sent them in letters to Joe.
After the war, Nelle found herself back in the mountains, far from family and making a life for her family on Joe's small paycheck from Ecusta. They lived on Deer Park Farm in a rental house owned by the Dixon's. Nelle remembers raising white leghorn chickens for eggs and eating. One day she and the children walked part of the way to Ecusta with Joe. When they returned, she found all of her chickens dead. A weasle had gotten into the chicken coop and with an almost invisible puncture wound to the neck, sucked the blood of the chickens. Nelle was in distress, when their neighbor Frances Dixon came and told her the chickens could be saved for food. Frances worked with Nelle all day to process the chickens have them frozen. Nelle learned canning and other homemaking skills from the Home Demonstration Club. She made lots of friends there and at the Oak Grove Methodist Church. Joe and Laura were baptized in this church by Pastor Clarke. In ways, Nelle always felt like "a foreigner" in the mountains. The people there had close ties going back over a hundred years and every family knew all the others. Nelle was from outside the community and because of her college education she also seemed different.
In 1947 Joe was born. The delivery was difficult and she hemmoraged afterward. Her sister Modelle came to stay and help out. Nelle had a long recovery from the birth.
Nelle and Joe were founding members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Brevard when it was started as a mission church. Nelle taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, was active in the women's groups, and helped with all kinds of church activities. She was good friends with the first minister and his wife, David and Jo Cooper.
In 1949, the family moved to a house of their own in Pisgah Forest. They did not get a car for another year or so and depended on the bus to get to town four miles away. To reach the highway and catch the bus was a walk of about a mile over the mountain. Nelle again made good friends of her neighbors, the Capells and the Ramers. She took care of chickens and raised a goat for milk. She planted a beautiful flower garden along the side of the house and a vegetable garden in the back. She spent energy and time on Laura, who had kidney disease that appeared to be incurable and resulted in many hospitalizations in Asheville and Brevard. Laura remembers how happy she was to see her mother coming down the aisle in the ward where her bed was located. She also remembers the doctor telling her mother that she might not live if they did not take the kidney out. Nelle was strong and gave confidence to her children and somehow this disease was conquered. She herself was critically sick with the flu when Joe was away for six weeks in Iowa. Dr. Newland came out to the house, called Nelle's mother to come, and Nelle recovered.
After the family acquired a Model A Ford, Nelle learned to drive. She remembers taking the driving test twice, because the first time she knocked a parking meter over parking the car. Driving provided some recreation to her and the kids and often they would be out visiting a friend or just taking a ride for fun. She would proclaim that it was impossible to get lost because "all these roads run together". She made a good friend of Thelma Sinard and they would be sewing or out and about together much of the time. She learned to cook over a campfire and the family went camping in the woods in which Joe so loved to spend time. They also went camping at the beach and spent other summers in rented houses at the beach in South Carolina.
She was always interested in politics and government. Laura remembers her quoting Roosevelt, complete with a New York accent, to the kids as a bedtime story, "I hate war, my wife Elenor hates war, my dog Fala hates war. And the next day he declared war". She also had the radio on during the 1952 election, listening to the speeches at both conventions and telling the children why Stevenson should be elected. She remains a life-long Democrat.
Nelle would travel to South Carolina and bring back bushels of peaches for canning. She and the children would pick pole beans in commercial fields that had already been picked and can those. She canned tomatoes and preserves. In these ways she stretched the family budget to meet their needs.
In 1953 the family moved to a new house that they had built on Laurel Lane in Brevard. Nelle was delighted with the house that she had been active in selecting and decorating. She planted a white climbing rose that came from her mother in the front yard. She had a vegetable garden in the back. She was approached by the principal of Brevard Elementary, Mr. Cudd, about the possibility of teaching in the fall of 1954 as the community was desparate to find educated teachers. Although she had no education hours, she accepted a third grade classroom and soon found she had a talent for teaching and managing children. She had 30-40 children in a room and some of the children were so poor they lacked plumbing in their homes or shoes to wear. The school building was built in 1875 and showed its age. She had few supplies or resources with which to teach, but she became a great teacher, who was respected by her peers, supervisors and especially by the parents of her students. At the same time as she taught, she began taking night courses and extenstion courses to acquire the education hours to give her a teaching certificate. She also spent one summer session at UNC Cullowhee, taking the kids there for six weeks. She began to show what remains true to this day, that she could do more things at once and be busier than everyone and nothing would suffer. She was teaching, studying, running the church. taking care of a family and making and maintaining many friends. She has always been good at managing time and people and naturally becomes a leader wherever she is.
When the decision was made to move to Kansas City so that Joe could make a career change, Nelle was teaching an 8th grade class. She had to leave a circle of friends and activities she had worked hard to build. Laura remembers going to Spartenburg, SC and buying the 34 foot trailer that would be the family's home for two years. All the furniture was traded in as a down payment and the trailer was moved to a suburb of Kansas City, MO. Joe went ahead to begin school and find a place for the family. Nelle finished up the school year and closed down their life in Brevard. They packed the car and she and the children drove from Brevard to Missouri. After they arrived they found themselves in a much hotter summer climate than they were used to. The trailer's floor was mopped twice a day in an attempt to mitigate the 90-100 degree heat. Steam would rise from the floor after mopping.
Nelle soon found a job working for General Testing Laboratory run by Ben Poisoner. She analyzed samples of cream pies for bacteria, water for contamination, meat for its fat content and anything else the public could bring in the door. Mr. Poisoner found an employee who was a quick learner and capable of reliable and repeatable analytical results.
Missouri was also a place of tornadoes. One night a civil defense worker knocked on the trailer door in the midst of a terrible rain storm. He told Nelle to get herself and the children out of the trailer because a tornado was coming. He wanted them to lie in a ditch to protect themselves. Nelle refused, which was a good example of being to make decisions under stress. Memories from Missouri also include Nelle dressing up as a witch to go trick-or-treating with Laura. She did this to bring candy back to Joe, who had the mumps at the time. During this time, the family took a vacation to Salina, Kansas to show Laura where she was born. They also spent time shopping at the Red X and in church activities.
During the year in Missouri Nelle received the news her mother had had a stroke. She went home to visit, but became aware that her mother would never be the same, and that the distance from home was far greater than it had felt before.
After Joe found his new career was not to be due to his back condition, the family decided to move to Florida and seek work there. Joe took the trailer himself and Nelle and the children drove back through North Carolina. They were nearly killed on a mountain road by an out-of-control logging truck. By a few inches they escaped being knocked down the side of the mountain. Driving across country may seem normal in today's world, but it was very unusual in the late 50's and unheard of for a woman to be doing this with just her children. Nelle was always confident in herself and always had the courage and intelligence to do what was necessary and do it well.
The family settled in Jacksonville and Nelle found a job teaching 7th grade math at Kirby Smith Junior High. She entered the children in the same school. It was during this time that Joe injured his back and was without work for most of a year. Nelle was the sole support of the family. She quickly gained the respect of the faculty and made friends at work. She learned to play bridge and until today enjoys a game. She was able to find a house the family could buy in Arlington on Pine Summit Drive East. The family attended St. Matthew's Lutheran Church just across the street from the house and Nelle became active in church activities once more.
Nelle's parents came to visit and spend time at the beach. Even though her mother was paralyzed by the stroke, it was really good to have them in her home. Her father would go to the farmers' market and get fresh peas and beans to shell for lunch. It felt a little more like home with them there.
Nelle's working made it possible to sent both children to college. Laura graduated in chemistry at the University of Florida in 1967 and Joe graduated in chemistry at Rice University in 1969. Joe went on to pursue a doctorate in chemistry at MIT.
In 1967 Nelle was awarded a Master of Secondary Education from the University of Florida, where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow. She was a member of Duval Teachers Association, which called a strike of Duval County Schools in 1968. She was working at the time at Arlington Junior High School and was Head of the Science Department. She taught the honors classes and ran the school science fair. When the strike was called she did not work for 5 weeks. The teachers returned to work under threat of losing their jobs. In Marion County, teachers had to pay $1000 penalty to regain their jobs. The Duval system had been allowed to deteriorate for some time and actually lost national accreditation before this strike. The strike was the beginning of reshaping and improving the system.
The Court of Appeals in New Orleans ordered the Duval Schools to desegregate. According to the order the teachers would desegregate in the first year and the students the following year. Nelle was on the board of the teachers union and volunteered to be among the white teachers who would move to predominately black schools. She remembers that 38 of 40 board members voted to go to their principals and volunteer for transfer. She went to Raines High School. She won the respect of students, parents and teachers for her leadership. She discovered that the Raines students were using science texts that were 20 years old and completely out of date. She demanded of the school board that they supply the school with current texts and succeeded in getting them. Her students went on to win science fair awards for the first time for Raines.
Nelle suddenly developed a problem with her left eye diagnosed as iritis, which treatened her with blindness and required constant treatment. In the meantime she and Joe had moved to the beach and she was driving 60 miles a day to teach at Raines. She asked to be transferred to Sandalwood, which decreased her commute and made her eye appointments easier to accomodate. Here she taught chemistry. Her students consistently took top honors in the local and state science fairs. Many students over the years have let her know how valuable they found the education they received from her and many of them were inspired to enter science careers.
She was at the same time becoming a grandmother and giving to her grandchildren experiences at her house and at the beach that they will always remember. She helped all of them with science projects and taught them alot about thinking analytically. She proves today to be an example of how to learn evolving technology, serve your community and how to live a life centered on God and family.
In 1977, Nelle decided to retire from the public schools. She joined Floricda Community College as an adjunct professor of chemistry and taught there until 1994. She remained active in the science fair and served as director of the Northeast Florida Regional Science Fair in 1982-1985. She served on as Chairman of Special Awards for the State Science Fair and continues today to serve both locally and at the state level as needed. In 1975 through 1980 she served as editor of the Florida Association of Science Teachers' Journal. This was only one example of how her excellent writing skills have been employed in service to her community. Today she is writing the newsletter for her church. Over the years she wrote science curriculum for the school system and wrote Criterion Measures for testing chemistry students. She had professional articles published in Rayon Tech Journal and Best of Science Teaching.
Nelle took two courses on BASIC programming in 1984 and taught herself to be computer proficient when many had no idea how to use a computer. She remains interested and informed on the latest computer technology and has often been called upon to advise others on this subject. In 1984 she developed a program to be used for inventory and idenfication of hazardous chemicals for the college laboratories.
Just as Nelle and Joe had found time to travel and felt themselves growing secure financially, Joe suddenly died of a stroke in September 1986. It was a hard blow and Nelle soon decided to leave the beach house and start over in a smaller place. She moved to Fawn Ridge and became active in Shepherd of the Woods Lutheran Church, which was just next door.
After retiring from the college, Nelle served on the board of the NE Florida Kiwanis Club, was treasurer of Fawn Ridge community associaton, served on her church council, as Financial Secretary and later as Evangelism Chairperson, and was president of the council. Today, besides writing the church newsletter, she teaches Sunday school, writes devotional books, handles the bulk mail, and helps with counting offerings and bulletins at the church. She remains an advisor to the science fair both locally and at the state level. She is respected and appreciated in her church and her community for her abilities to organize and lead and her talent for writing and making friends.
Over the years since moving to Florida, Nelle has made constant efforts to stay in touch with family in North Carolina. It was usual for her to drive the children to Thanksgiving luncheon in Charlotte after working on Wednesday and return on Sunday. She has always come when anyone needed her in the family and is the center of attention of the younger generations as she tells the family stories and creates the lore that binds them together. She went on cruises with Joe and Evelyn in later years and enjoyed Roy coming down to visit her and help with her taxes She celebrated Dick's 50th wedding anniversary as well as Jean's. She also thinks nothing of deciding to visit Arkansas and driving there alone on vacation. She has developed a love for the western canyons and desert, particularly in Utah and has visited there often. She has participated in the Elder Hostel Program. She has pursued geolgy and earth science both professionally and as a hobby and loves to see new rock formantion. She is an independent lady who has an indomitable spirit that can't be repressed. She found a way to distinguish herself from her siblings and others by striving in all things for excellence.
hypertension unstable angina adult onset diabetes iritis and secondary cataract varicose veins, worse in left leg adult onset asthma; pollen allergies