That was a moment in time that I was supposed to be An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. At a clemency hearing in 2019, when the men were posthumously pardoned by Florida Gov. In 1951, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his sons guilty verdict, calling the trial and its surrounding atmosphere one of the worst menaces to American justice, Sheriff Willis McCall decided to personally transport the defendants from Raiford prison back to Lake County for the retrial. Family members linked to this person will appear here. Her hugs could make a rainy day seem like a warm summer sunrise. And about the rape. They refused to leave. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Beloved wife to the love of her life, the late Robert Babin Padgett. McCall managed to hold the mob at bay, but they returned to Groveland and began burning black homes to the ground. From a wheelchair, Norma Padgett, now 86, the accuser of the Groveland Four, spoke publicly for the first time since 1952 when she testified in the retrial of Walter Irvin, who was convicted a. Within hours, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin, 22-year-old childhood friends and army buddies from Groveland, were arrested, taken into the basement beneath the Lake County jail, and severely beaten by deputies. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHALL WE HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF THE SITE. When one of the suspects, 25-year-old Earnest Thomas, fled north, Sheriff Willis McCall appointed a posse, which chased him down and left his bullet-riddled body in the woods 200 miles away. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Beloved. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Turning down a dark clay road, McCall stopped his car, pulled his gun, and executed Samuel Shepherd. She strained to hear through the doors as the House voted unanimously, 117-0, to apologize to the families of the Groveland Boys. The Myth - Norma died while rushing into a burning orphanage to save the children. The service will be streamed online via Facebook Live. Please enter your email and password to sign in. To send a flower arrangement or to plant trees in memory of A unique and lasting tribute for a loved one. The state never had his pants tested for the presence of semen though they had the ability to do so, he argued. But according to the Shepherds, she did not remain completely silent. There was an error deleting this problem. James Shepherd slowly limped to the door and opened it for Norma. He was shot to death by Sheriff Willis McCall in Lake County, Fla., in 1951. His dad said he was coming back to our house and if any white man strikes a match to burn his house down, he was going to kill him, said Griffin, who is now 74 and recently retired from the Groveland City Council. Notre Dame Catholic Church 64 Norfolk Ave, Clarendon Hills, IL 60514. Norma and Bob were the proud owners of Willis Jewelers (now Zabler Jewelers) in Clarendon Hills where they built a thriving business by earning the trust of their customers with their integrity and standards of quality. She was nanny for four of her grandchildren, providing full-time loving care and support after her retirement from nursing. Service July 12, 1 PM at Flanigan Funeral Home and Crematory, Buford, GA. With tears that turned to sobs, the broken-hearted niece of Samuel Shepherd was enveloped by family hugs. She was a longtime member of Notre Dame Parish in Clarendon Hills serving as an adult religious education instructor, lector, and diligent but admittedly unskilled, prayer shawl knitter. You could put markers where some of the incidents took place. The significance of this finding cannot be overstated, Gladson said. Weeks from his last moments on earth, when his heart would ultimately fail him, James Shepherd said he had heard Norma concede what hed known all along. We just want closure and not push it aside anymore, she said. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. 3275 W. Roy Furman Hwy. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. Norma Padgett, 86, is the only one involved in the Groveland Four saga who is still alive. (The family is leaning towards the former but we cant be certain.) I hope that this will bring peace to their families and their communities, the governor said after the vote. Norma Lee Padgett Meakin. Ron DeSantis, elected officials and community leaders participated in the unveiling ceremony, honoring the four men who were falsely accused of a rape in 1949. He would not lie. 3275 W. Roy Furman Hwy. Norma Hunter Lee, 86, passed away peacefully, on Monday, January 31, 2022, surrounded by her family. Verify and try again. We have set your language to Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Try again later. Were Christians, Erma added, noting that her father made sure the family never missed service at Clermonts New Jacobs Missionary Baptist Church. 360-736-3311, Relatives of the Groveland Four gather at the just-unveiled monument in front of the Lake County historical courthouse in Tavares, Fla., Friday, February 21, 2020. There is a problem with your email/password. May the promise of our Lord Jesus at John 5:28 bring you comfort and hope. My grandfather not only lost their home, but he lost his son.. Norma Jean Padgett Norma Jean Padgett, age 78, of Dale, passed away at 12:35 a.m., on Thursday, November 8, 2018, at Scenic Hills Care Center in Ferdinand. Norma was nurtured by God's Word and Sacrament all the days of her life and is now with the Lord Jesus forever; John 14:1-3. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. Ron DeSantis, he and the other three members of the state clemency board unanimously granted pardons to the Groveland Four. In 1955, after the prosecutor said he had doubts about the conviction, the governor commuted the sentence to life in prison. All have preceded her in joining God. She loved to make people smile. But Mike Hein, the Groveland city manager, said he doesnt see the town achieving that anytime soon. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Norma dropped the Padgett name, the couple divorced in 1958, and she remarried to another Lake County man a few years later. cemeteries found in Davenport, Polk County, Florida, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. And he believed there were better days ahead.. Complications from his diabetes had resulted in a few amputated toes, hands that had become increasingly numb, and a weakening heart. The sheriff picked up the two men at the state prison to drive them back to Lake County for the retrial. All that weve doneall that weve worked forIll never get that moment back.. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Friends will be received on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at Kesterson-Rush Funeral Home, LLC. She called her mother: Why didnt you tell me?. John Griffin, who was 5 at the time, said his father took the family to nearby Montverde when the Klan started to arrive. Norma wandered into Okahumpka, 15 miles north of Groveland, the next morning and told a man she had been abducted. There are countless people we need to remember who suffered similar fates who have been lost to history, Marshall said Monday. Norma had a capacity to love that defies description. He had to ride to the hospital in a car provided by a black-owned funeral home because an ambulance refused to transport black people. The two were married over 50 years. During World War II, Vivians grandfather Henry Shepherd, the grandson of a Georgian slave, purchased 55 acres of swampland in Groveland, Fla., and spent the next few years enduring countless snakebites in his efforts to drain the property and make it something of value. PADGETT, Norma J. Authorize the publication of the original written obituary with the accompanying photo. I dont think there is any way that you can look at this case and see justice was carried out, DeSantis said at the hearing. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Go to funeral home website to view original page. NORMA ROSE PADGETT, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store. She is preceded in death by her parents Melville and Mary "Beatrice" Thornton, sisters Marion (Thornton) Ives and Beatrice "Betty" (Adford) McDaniel and brother Reverend Melville Thornton. Funeral arrangement under the care ofToon Funeral Homes. The swamp acreage that Henry Shepherd had painstakingly drained and cultivated eventually came into the possession of one of Normas sons. James Shepherd never sought closure to the family ruin hed endured in Groveland a half century before, nor had he ever attempted to come to terms with his tragic past. They spent their summers in South Fork at the Eagles Campground. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Leave a sympathy message to the family on the memorial page of Norma Padgett to pay them a last tribute. Born to Alpha and Loretta Padgett on June 2, 1931, in Miami, Oklahoma, Norma grew up with a sister, Jean, and two brothers, Richard and Don. From Groveland.. But a doctors examination of Padgett the morning after the alleged assault cast doubt on her rape accusations. For the Shepherds, there was no going back to Groveland anyway. Hes also in favor of some type of recognition of the past. GREAT NEWS! But, if the need ever arose, she would have led the firemen into the burning building. Learn more about managing a memorial . Learn more about merges. U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current. There should be some way to reflect what happened, Hein said. It contained a pair of Irvins trousers which had smears on the front that had never been scientifically analyzed. And just as Marshall expected, Walter Irvin was once again convicted by 12 white jurors and sentenced to death. Norma Padgett Obituary. Go to funeral home website to view original page. Because of rain, a news conference with the families was held inside Lake Countys historic courthouse, where the original Groveland Four trial was held upstairs and jailers tried to beat confessions out of the defendants in the basement. Irvin was paroled in 1968 and died a year later of what were determined to be natural causes. Vivian Shepherd was living in Gainesville in 1998 when she received a Monday night telephone call from her mother. To this day, she has not spoken to any journalists, nor made any public statements. It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Gerald Padgett of Hilliard, Florida, born in Brooker, Florida, who passed away on January 31, 2021, at the age of 71, leaving to mourn family and friends. The impact she had on others in this half-decade of service in her chosen profession is immeasurable. She made good time, and after finding a parking space near the Florida Capitol Complex in Tallahassee, she rushed toward the House Office Building. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. She grew up in Gillespie, Illinois and after high school graduation pursued her passion for helping others by earning her Bachelors of Nursing degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by two siblings, William Boyd Padgett and Norma Lee Padgett. There were rumors around town that Willie would drink and sometimes become violent toward his wife. Groveland did not want anyone to know about it, said Vivian Shepherd, now 57. Norma Hunter Lee, 86, passed away peacefully, on Monday, January 31, 2022, surrounded by her family. They knocked down his fences and allowed their cattle to graze on his land, destroying Shepherds crops just before harvest. Funeral arrangement under the care ofWoodlawn Funeral Home. Review. Then in 2013, the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction went to the author Gilbert King for his account of the saga, Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America.. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, What time is it on the moon? Lori Lee Ferrell (Randy) of Cornelius, NC, Robert Jeff Lee (Phyllis) of Arlington, VA, Lesley Lee Padgett of Cornelius, NC and Kirk Hunter Lee (Candace) of Flower Mound, TX; her . No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. Search above to list available cemeteries. Disclaimer: All information provided on this website is provided in good faith, however we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information on the Site. She is survived by : her children, Mark Handley (Jayne), Melissa Turner (James), Sheryl Handley (Edward Steffes) and Scott Handley (Michele); and her step-children, Pamela Higgins (Jeffery) and Rob Padgett (Debbie). But theyve hit a snag, Student debt is a crisis: Activists rally outside Supreme Court for loan forgiveness, Tensions rise in Nigeria as opposition demands new vote. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? Among observers of the historic hearing were Gilbert King, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Devil in The Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, which chronicled a detailed account of the case. I knew what had happened was wrong but I couldnt do anything about it without new evidence, he said. N N Guzman November 17, 2018 Offering my sincere condolences for the family. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. July 26, 1935 - Greenlee, who had survived the longest, almost lived to see it. Arrangements are in the care of Woodlawn Funeral Home in Mount Holly. She is looking forward to seeing all of us in Heaven. They married on July 5, 1957 and Norma was his co-partner in ministry for the full 64 years of their union together. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. McCall, who had bragged about having stayed in office so long despite being investigated dozens of times, was acquitted by an all-white jury. As word of the allegations got out, the Ku Klux Klan descended on Groveland, shooting at the houses of black people or burning them down. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). The board disagreed. Nonprofit journalism about criminal justice, A nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, This story was published in partnership with. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Norma spent her life helping others as a faithful servant of the Lord, nursing the sick. There is no photo or video of Norma Lee.Be the first to share a memory to pay tribute. Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. They owned an RV and traveled the U.S. on many memorable vacations. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. He said both his uncle and Samuel Shepherd were dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army because of the false rape accusation, and the families hope to see that corrected, too. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. Hermon Lutheran Church Cemetery, 3011 Leaphart Road, West Columbia, SC 29169. . Norma was born on March 25, 1936, the 5th of nine children of Walter and Mathilda Hauschild, in Dorchester, Illinois. Please reset your password. Norma Rose Padgett (nee Thornton) age 99 3/4, went home to her Heavenly Father on July 1, 2022. Norma was a member of the Gentryville United Methodist Church. The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. In 1972, he was serving his seventh term as sheriff when he was indicted for the murder of a mentally disabled black prisoner while in custody. On July 16, 1949, Norma Padgett, a 17-year-old white woman from Lake County, Florida, accused four black men of raping her and assaulting her husband after their car stalled on a rural road near the Groveland community. Norma started life as it ended - sincerely loved by all around her. Rick Scott and his cabinet to perform an expedited clemency review of the cases and grant full pardons. She later went to Presbyterian School of Nursing, finishing in 1956. Norma stayed married to Willie Padgett through both of the Groveland trials. Comment Share B Brenda Nixon A system error has occurred. Norma's family would like to thank her long-time caregivers Maria de la Luz Vasquez and Julie Nordeen for their care and their gift of dignity in Norma's waning years. By 1998, Willie was dead, as was Norma's second husband (whose surname she uses today), and the 66-year-old widow was still living in Groveland. Holly High School in 1953. The couple did have children together, but their marriage was anything but bliss. In 1949, they were accused of raping a white 17-year-old and variously subjected to mob attacks, beatings by officials and summary execution by the Lake County sheriff. 4920 Main Street Downers Grove, IL NORMA PADGETT OBITUARY Norma Rose Padgett (nee Thornton) age 99 3/4, went home to her Heavenly Father on July 1, 2022. They demanded that Sheriff McCall release the prisoners to them for what was certain to be a lynching. She asked her father about him, but he never wanted to talk. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel), Hearing on Identity Theft Charges for Mother of Missing Oakville Girl Postponed, Washington Was First State to Legalize Right Turns at Red Light, But a New House Bill Could Reverse That, Walsh Bill Allowing Family Burials on Private Land Unanimously Passes State House, Supreme Living Backs Off Plans for Sex Offender Housing Near Tenino, Powered by Creative Circle Media Solutions. One day, when Shepherd was in her late 30s, she saw a picture of her uncle in a PBS documentary on the battles of the civil rights movement. Rogersville, PA, 15359. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. 11, 2019. Its gone now. Padgett, now 89, declined her right to . Normas family came to Utah in 1936 to escape the depression when all mining shut down in Oklahoma. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. She attended Davis County schools and graduated from Davis High School in 1949. If you found a mistake or you want to remove or add obituary, please send us e-mail to info@obituary.memorial. James Shepherd attended the retrial and was standing with Walters mother when Thurgood Marshall informed them of a deal proposed by a representative of Gov. This time, however, the nation was watching. Norma was born on March 25, 1936, the . They chatted briefly about Jamess health. Norma added that she didnt much care for that nigger lawyer defending the Groveland Boys. And she could hear the applause as the representatives rose from their seats to face the dozen or so family members. She later claimed she had also been raped. Howard King, whose family settled in the area in the late 1800s and brought black workers from Baltimore, remembered the chaos as a bunch of rednecks who went crazy., They had the power, they had the support of the sheriff, he said. She will be buried in Alma, KS with a memorial service on November 7, 2020 at 11:00 am at St. John Lutheran Church at 218 W 2nd St in Alma. Thanks for your help! Word spread that some young black men in Groveland had raped a white woman, and a heavily armed mob of klansmen, accompanied by Willie Padgett and Normas father, Coy Tyson, showed up outside the Lake County jail. Memorials or famous memorials will not have this option home in Mount Holly his! 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