She made it always look as if my father was the boss, but even if it came to petty cash, my mother used to hold the purse - Nora Schimming-Chase

I grew up in this large family with the good and the bad and yet looking back seventy plus years, the good memories are clear in my mind whereas the bad ones seem to have disappeared into oblivion.

I was born on the 2nd of December 1940 (or so we all agreed) until I was twenty years old when we realized that that was the birth date of my late brother Norman who died before I was born and in whose memory was named Nora.

My mother did not believe in ‘I am the person, I can do that’, she was a very strong willed, active woman, and she wouldn’t accept ‘no’ as an answer, and she wouldn’t just give up, she’ll go as far as she can.”