Thursday, November 8, 2018
I am so saddened to learn of the death of my dear cousin, Norma Allison Martin.We are l4 months apart in age and her Daddy and my Mother were brother and sister. We grew up together in Kirkwood in Atlanta. We were inseparable and she stayed at my house a lot. My Daddy built me a playhouse in the backyard, and Norma and I played house and dolls all the time. We would pretend we were married and had children and would cook for our families. We would go out in the backyard and strip the shrubbery of green leaves for green beans. A big clump of dirt became a beef roast and we could whip Ivory flakes hard and they would turn into a beautiful pie. We could cut it with a knife.
When we were around 6 or 7 years old, she lived in Cleveland, Ga. One summer I went to see her and was supposed to stay a week, but I was a city girl and got homesick. Her parents didn't have a phone, so we had to go down to town to the relay station to call my mother to come to get me and take me home. When we grew up and my mother told the story, she said that I was crying to go home, and Norma was crying because I was leaving.
We grew up, married, and our first children were 8 weeks apart.
I love you Norma so much and always will. May you rest in peace.
