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Three portraits, at different ages, of my paternal great grandmother,
Nora Belle (Baker) Saunders,
my grandfather Delbert Saunders's mother.
Nora Belle (Baker) Saunders,
my grandfather Delbert Saunders's mother.
Nora Belle married my father's namesake, George Marion Saunders, on May 6, 1908 in Blackfoot, Bingham County, Idaho, when she was just 17 years old. Their first son, James "Jimmy" Robert Saunders was born when she was 18. My grandfather, Delbert "Bud" Marion Saunders, was born in Roundup, Montana, in 1911, when Nora Belle was 19. Though she loved George Marion very much, he was (in the words of my grandfather), "a failure as a husband and father, " and the marriage ended in divorce. Nora Belle later married George Carston, a native of California and a switchman on the railroads. With George Carston, she bore another son, Arnold. She, George, Jimmy, Bud and Arnold eventually moved to California and settled in Tracy, CA, along with the families of Nora's sisters (Ruby, Nellie and Mamie). Nora remained married to George Carston until her death.
Nora became diabetic and, as my grandfather describes, "had it under control by way of a new drug -- insulin -- and her diet." Unfortunately, she died quite early in life, on January 1, 1925, at the age of 33 after a friend talked her into joining a fundamentalist church that practiced faith healing and she stopped taking her insulin. This incident, as well as the death of Nora's sister Ruby, who also fell under the influence of the fundamentalist teachings and died from uremic poisoning after a difficult pregnancy, caused my grandfather to reject all forms of organized religion and live by his own philosophy of "trying not to make too many trespasses or hurt anyone." Ironically, thought I never saw him attend church, I consider my grandfather to be the most Christian person I have ever had the privilege of knowing.
