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Noralee Edith (Carroll)Crowson was the second child of John (Jack) Edward Carroll and his wife Lena May (second legal name of Carolyn Ethel Joslin, a whole other tale) among three sisters. A natural blond with curls and the golden complexion to match--she resembled her mother's sister Linnie Jane in stature and cheerful personality.
She was a good student, a great Frenchhorn-playing MHS band
member, who was one of the Jr High Band majorettes. During the end of
summer before she was to be a freshman, she declined that position
because when she began practicing her twirling, she was having
difficulty with the baton. We didn't know it then but this was her
beginning symptoms of Myatonia Dystrophy, a Muscular Dystrophy variance
that starts by affecting one's digits.
She was popular and preferred chumming with her group of
friends rather than dating until as a Junior she met her only
husband-to-be, Johnny Robert Crowson, and wed him on August 16, 1953,
before she was 17 in December. They had a son Johnny Edward born July
13, 1956, who died just 3 days shy of being four months old. Next year
on December 30, they had Carroll Anne, an exceptionally bright and
caring child who had internal birth defects and died March 30, 1963, in
the Houston Children's Hospital during her third surgery to attempt to
correct the kidney problems. The photo below is of Carroll Anne and my
first husband Ray (Curly) Dwayne Nicholson.
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They had two more sons David Lee who was two when they lost
Carroll Anne, and William Earl born August 17, 1964. Both boys
inherited their mother's MD, and David passed after her death from
complications of it on June 24, 2014.
Already a compassionate person, Noralee, partly through the
loss of her children, the estrangement of her marriage, and her
deteriorating health, was determined to find a way to help others.
Therefore she continued her education, graduating from Dallas College.
Although when she enrolled, she was already requiring a cane to walk,
when her diploma was awarded she was wheelchair bound. However, she was
able with the assistance of her brother-in-law Amos to walk across the
stage to receive the Diploma to a standing ovation from all present,
staff, and other grads.
She was used to work, having begun as a switchboard operator
in Monahans shortly after her marriage, and several years later was also
the switchboard operator at the then largest Dallas Hospital. So she
wasn't going to let the wheelchair (she referred to herself as a
"wheelie") keep her from using her degree to accomplish her goal of
helping others. She became a volunteer at the Dallas County Library
teaching the necessary requirements to become a USA citizen, including
teaching the English language and sometimes using ASL to accomplish the
task. Before being a "wheelie" while walking down one of the college
halls using her cane, a mean-spirited person deliberately kicked her
cane away from her. This led to both her sister Jacquie and herself
taking self-defense lessons for disabled persons. She would advise
others to take the course if they too used mobility aids.
She also did relationship counseling, continuing it even
after she was confined to her hospital bed, and those requiring her
advice came to her home. In fact, when she passed, the female Police
Officer that answered the ER call along with an ambulance was one who
had conferred with her and she remained consoling her sons and our
mother who lived one street over with our sister Jacquie who was at work
in Fort Worth when Nee passed. Because in the Dallas area, including
Haltom City where she lived required unattended deaths to be attended
and confirmed before being transported anywhere, the officer waited with
the family some six hours before a Justice of Peace arrived. This was
not required of her but done out of love and respect for Noralee. That
is how she affected everyone she was around.
The first day of March is her Angel-versary, and this has
been written through my love and grieving for her. We were so close in
age that she always wanted to be "the oldest" and when she grew taller
than me, she began calling herself my "big" sister. When we got home
from a ballgame once, I fussed at her for telling a falsehood at which
she declared "I didn't lie! I am taller and that is bigger!"
I miss you, Nee.
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