Nora Bell (Platt) &Wayne Simpson
Contributed by Richard Bradley and based on Nora's writings
Nora Bell Platt Simpson was born July 6, 1907, on the farm at Crystal, their eleventh child. She started school in Stillwater, and was a senior in high school when Papa died.
In fifth grade, Nora sat behind another girl, a banker's daughter, of whom she was not particularly fond. " She sat in front of me, invariably tossing those hated braids in my desk. Impelled by her latest taunt during recess, as soon as the braid hit my desk, I stuffed it in the sunken ink well -standard equipment on all grade school desks. Shrieking, she leapt up throwing black ink over everything near, including me. Horrified, the teacher sent me to the dreaded principal's office to face the terrible paddle with holes in it, hanging from a nail. I'd heard the awesome whacks and agonizing screams from behind that door before and sheer terror instilled unprecedented courage. I crawled out the window - second floor level - and managed to descend to ground level by clinging to the ornamentation on the facade of the building. Papa was waiting at home. He had been notified of my crime at the garage and agreed with the authorities that I should be expelled for the remainder of the semester. He and Mama decided I was to be sent to Wella and Jim's farm and perhaps be "straightened out". Outwardly, I meekly accepted my awful fate; inwardly, I was overjoyed. That interlude, riding with Jim in a horse drawn buggy, to a school that had a bell to ring, and big boys and girls, was crammed with memories I'll always treasure. Jim, Wella, Arlie and Iola became a happy part of my life. My subsequent reinstatement in Stillwater schools was disappointingly routine, considering my lurid past."
Nora was the Valedictorian of her high school class, graduating in 1928 . Somehow, she picked up the nickname of "Hoppy" and signed most of her family letters with that name.

Nora graduated from Oklahoma A&M on July 23, 1931. She and older sister Vi developed a cooperative plan to finance their mutual educations. Having completed all but a year of her schooling, Vi taught while Nora went to school, then Nora taught while Vi finished school. Nora aspired to become a nurse, and idealistically, set her sights on probably the best school in the country, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Vi taught and paid for it. The one working always paid the expenses of the other. Their strategy worked! Nora paid her back in full by October of 1937.
Nora left for Johns Hopkins in September of 1932, for the three year course. It was an ordeal, with many rules of behavior, strict schedules, etc. Strange stuff indeed, to this adult, free thinking woman from the prairie.
It was there that she met Wayne Simpson, U.S. Marine Corps, on a blind date with another nurse.
Nora had fallen in love with Wayne, but she was nervous about setting a date for the wedding. Wayne brought it up several times but she continued to put it off. One lovely Saturday they went for a drive up through New England, enjoying the scenery and each other's company. Wayne suggested that, as a "lark". they pretend to get married. He took her in to a five and dime or similar store and bought a fake ring, and as they drove they talked about plans, etc. Eventually, he stopped at a chapel and Nora asked why they had stopped and said it wouldn't be right to intrude at a real chapel or bother other people about their "game". Wayne asked for the clergyman and told him they were there to be married. Nora pulled back, and was still concerned with interrupting this man's day for their little game. Wayne told the minister that Nora was a bit nervous about getting married and just to proceed with the service. Apparently he had made the necessary arrangements before their drive that day! And so, such was their wedding, August 13, 1937!
During the war years, Wayne was gone for a lot of the time. Nora served her country in several capacities. Public Health Nurse in Santa Barbara, then Berkeley, California and as Nurse Director at Fresno City College.
John Hopkins Hospital, 1935
New York City, June 1937
Contributed by Martha Talmage. After the war, Wayne became the manager of a 60,000 acre ranch in San Fernando Valley owned by a San Francisco financier. The ranch really kept Wayne busy, but it was a good life! Judy Talmage spent a summer with them in 1958, after graduating from high school and will never forget how Nora stopped all activities promptly at 3:30 in the afternoon to began to prepare for Wayne's arrival home. Shower, shampoo, nice clothes, perfume, and then into the kitchen to start his dinner.
When Wayne arrived, he would go straight into the kitchen to Nora, and they would have a cocktail and talk about their day. Then set a beautiful table with flowers and sit down to eat their almost formal dinner. They only had eyes for each other. Judy could hardly wait to get married!

Nora owned a beautiful Boxer dog that she obedience trained to near perfection. They enjoyed his company for many years and he helped temper the absence of Patty.
Plaque inside Oklahoma State University's Student Union recognizing the Simpson's sizable donation to OSU.
Sister Ann and Ben Fugate with one of their paintings from Aunt Nora.
Contributed by Delores Winston. Years later, they retired and moved to Tucson, Arizona, where they had a lovely home on the north side of town. Their home had a beautiful desert garden, ablaze with desert flowers in the spring, of which they were justifiably proud!

Nora was the consumate artist. She and Wayne traveled quite a bit after their retirement and she took her oil paints and sketch books and painted the mountains and deserts wherever they were. Wayne doted on her and enjoyed the long afternoons with his artist. Her paintings reflect her love for the desert in particular and she was quite a prolific painter. She told of doing sketches of the Baltimore area and giving them to friends as favors. Nora always gave generously of her handiwork. Most of the family has one or two of her paintings. Richard Bradley's favorite is a painting of his mother's cabin at Twin Aspen Acres, her hideaway in the mountains west of Denver.

In the early 1990's they moved to Redding, California, where they lived until Wayne's death on June 6, 1993. Nora moved back to Tucson for a year or so, then to a retirement home in Tulsa, where she passed away October 13, 1998, at the age of 91.In accordance with her wishes, she was cremated and her ashes scattered over the Pacific at San Francisco.