Nola Fletcher, who was born and raised in Oregon County, died on Thursday, July 7, 2022. She was 88 years of age. Mrs. Fletcher was born Nola June Robinson on June 8, 1934, in Thayer, Oregon County, Missouri. She was the youngest child of Charles “Charlie” Maurice Robinson and Dorothy May (Alford) Robinson. Charlie was a grocer. Dorothy was a busy and industrious homemaker, whom Charlie often enlisted to help tend “the store.”
Nola attended the public schools in Thayer. In high school, she participated in the marching band, an activity that spoke to her social interests as much as it did to her musical interests. She especially enjoyed traveling out of town with the band.
After high school, she and one of her girlfriends moved to Kansas City, Missouri, partly to explore the attractions of a large city but mainly to seek employment. With little effort, they both found jobs. Among the attractions for Nola was a hard-working, personable man named Robert Vernon Fletcher – “Bob” to his friends. The attraction deepened, and Bob and Nola were married in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 27, 1958.
Seeking better employment for Bob, who was an electrician, the couple moved to southern California (Santa Ana) in the early 1960s. For about a decade, Bob and Nola enjoyed the sights and sounds of southern California and the occasional shopping trips across the border to Tijuana, Mexico. But by the early 1970s, the pace of life in southern California (sometimes no pace at all on the traffic-congested freeways) lost its appeal for them. They wanted to relocate to a less congested and less hurried community, a place close to family and familiar neighbors. Thayer, Nola’s childhood hometown, fit the bill. Nola’s parents still lived there, as did her brother Dwight and members of his family. Bob soon set up shop as a self-employed electrician. Nola worked in a music store owned by her brother Dwight.
Nola enjoyed spending time with her parents and the many other relatives and friends who resided in Thayer or who visited from far-flung parts of the nation. One of the events she most looked forward to was the annual Alford family reunion, which was normally held on Memorial Day weekend. (Nola’s mother Dorothy was an Alford.) In keeping with longstanding family tradition, part of the reunion involved visiting the Cotton Creek cemetery adjacent to the Cotton Creek church. After decorating family headstones, everyone gathered for a potluck picnic.
Nola was an avid reader. Her interests ran toward mystery novels and historical fiction. If she liked a book, she would read it again. She also had an appetite for competitive table games. Card games, dominos, and Scrabble were some of her favorites. Unlike her father Charlie, Nola was not particularly skilled at checkers.
Following Bob’s death in 1996, Nola lived in the family home in Thayer for several years. But as it became increasingly difficult for her to live independently, she sold her home and moved into an apartment, then another, and finally into Shepherd’s View Residential Care Facility in Alton, Missouri. She remained there until her death. Nola had no natural-born children of her own, but she took much pleasure and interest in her many nephews and nieces and their children.
In her immediate family, she is preceded in death by her sister Velma Maxine Robinson (1930), sister-in-law Helen Myrtle (Dills) Robinson (1973), father Charles “Charlie” Maurice Robinson (1977), mother Dorothy May (Alford) Robinson (1983), brother Dwight Lawrence Robinson (1992), husband Robert “Bob” Vernon Fletcher (1996), brother-in-law Donald “Don” LeRoy Palmer (2004), sister-in-law Betty Lawrence Robinson (2009), brother Howard David Robinson (2019), and sister Thelma (2020).
Funeral services will be held at 11am on Saturday, July 16, 2022, at the Clary Funeral Home in Thayer, MO, with burial following in the Thayer Cemetery.
