Nadine Alma Graham

The following is a personal history written by Nadine while she was a member of the Oregon Trail Homemakers Club:

Nadine Alma Roe Graham

I was born May 29, 1936, in Lander Wyoming, and was followed shortly by a twin sister, Maxine Susan. From that time we shared everything including our names. None of our teachers or relatives could remember which name belonged to which kid.

At that time my parents and an older sister lived on a small farm about six and half miles from Lander. All of my grandparents also lived on a farm not far away. Several years later my father's parents moved to town and when Maxine and I were six we also moved to towns so we would be closer to a school. Actually, the place was outside of Lander then. It had been a dairy farm and had a wonderful barn with a combat floor where we played for hours. The next fall we moved several blocks closer to town where my parents still live today.

My mother's parents still lived on a farm so my mother kept two cousins that were living with my grandparents so they could attend school. Needless to say, the house was full as I had two younger sisters and a brother by then. My mother raised a huge garden and had a cow and chickens until the town was built out to meet us. My dad worked for the Wyoming  Highway Department for years and in 1952 he bid on the mail route of South Pass and Atlantic City, a job he still has by the way. He used to snowshoe in before they kept the road open during the winter.

All of us learned to work at an early age, everything from babysitting to picking raspberries for neighbors. We walked the seven miles to my grandparents often in the summer when we were ten or eleven and also in 4-H.

While I was in high school I worked as a waitress and cleaned at a motel during the summer vacation. We graduated from high school in 1954 and for a while, I stayed with my older sister's children and also worked in the diet kitchen at the hospital in the afternoon and evening. After that I decided to work full time so got a job at the Log Cabin Grocery where I worked for two years.

In the fall of 1955, my sister went to Denver to St. Lukes to go to nursing school. She had worked for a year and by working extra while she was in training she managed to finish. We were close so I missed her but got an apartment with two girlfriends. One of the girls was married the following summer so Dolly and I decided with another friend to go to Casper College in September of 1956. As it happened some other girls from Lander went to Casper too so for of us shared an apartment. We moved into a house later and got another roommate again. it was because all of us had jobs and different hours at school. Dolly and I both got jobs right away which was fortunate because most of our savings went for tuition and books. She had a job at the Ben Franklins store downtown and I worked at the Bent Franklin store at Hilltop so we both had a problem getting to our jobs and school. We worked twenty-seven hours one week and thirty-seven hours the next week.

Jim and I had met and dated in high school and he graduated in 1953. He went into the Army in the fall of 1954. We wrote to each other while he was in the service and we were engaged shortly after he got back in the fall of 1956. I finished the year and was undecided about going for another year but one of the girls had talked me into applying for scholarships, which I surprised myself by winning. During summer vacation I worked at the same grocery store again. The following year I stayed with a couple which made things much easier because she worked at the same store. At the end of the third semester, I was initiated into the Phi Thea Kappa and after that, I did some practice teaching in the first grade. In my spare time, I made my wedding dress and Jim came down as often as he could. I decided that I should be able to work more since I wasn't taking as many credit hours so I worked until eight every night the last semester.

I graduated on a Friday and Jim and I were married the following Tuesday, June 10, 1958. My sister Maxine finished hemming my dress and Dolly finished Maxine's dress. On May 28, 1959, James Dale was born and on July 20, 1961, Carol Sue was born.

I have been in Cow Belles since 1958 and joined Homemakers when the Oregon Trail Club was started. I have been a Den Mother and have been a 4-H leader for two years.

All of my family has been fortunate because all of us are alive and well. My older sister lives in Elko, Nevada, my twin sister in Denver, and a younger sister and her husband are in Spain but should be home in July. My younger sister and family live in Riverton and my brother and his wife are in North Carolina. My brother is in the Special Forces and was in Viet Nam three times. He also was with the group that went into North Viet Nam to try to release the prisoners and was awarded a silver star. He was married last June and his wife teaches at Fort Bragg.

After their marriage, Jim and Nadine made their home along the Sweetwater on the Graham Ranch where Nadine resided until her death on December 25, 2023.

Nadine was very active in her community. Among her many activities, she was in the Cow Bells, worked on the  Election Board, helped organize, and volunteered at the Jeffrey City Library, the school kids were always excited to go to the library when she was there. Nadine helped with the Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, and she was a 4H leader. She was on the Jeffrey City Fire Auxiliary and the Community Rec. board where she helped with the organization of many community activities. Nadine received the Riverton Chamber of Commerce Agricultural Woman of the Year award in 2019 in appreciation for giving back to the community.

Nadine was always ready to do whatever was needed; cook, organize, haul hay, or fix the fence.  She was a woman of few words but believed in hard work. She didn't complain and always put others first.

When she was asked what was important to her, her response was always"My family". She enjoyed many trips with her sisters and brother. Her quiet strength, unwavering support, and love of her family provided an example of what love of family is. She taught all her life to help others, work hard, and laugh often because life is full of blessings.

She is survived by her brother Frank, three sisters Lois, Maxine, and Charlotte, her son Dale and daughter Carol, Daughter-in-law Sheila Graham and son-in-law Earl Nebeker,  6 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren, She was preceded in death by her sister Clarice, grandson Aric and great-grandson Zade James.

Funeral Services are at 2:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 3, 2024, at Hudson's Funeral Home.

Donations can be made to the Jeffery City Fire Department Auxiliary Committee (P.O. Box 911, Jeffrey City, WY 82310).

Please sign the online guestbook at: hudsonsfh.com