My son asked me today what was the date. When I realized what it was, I told him if my grandfather, Nuris Marcum "Papa" Nance, Sr. was alive, he would be 102 on this day. I wish I could find a photo of him - he seemed tall, tanned easily, both forearm "sleeves" were tattooed with various memories - from his Navy experience on the USS Oklahoma, a hula girl from Hawaii, a knife that appeared to 'slice' through his arm, and a baby cartoon representing my mother, his first child. He had a grand nose he called Roman "because it's roman all over my face", but was reminiscent of his American Indian roots. And he was tough, tattoos barely hid the slice removed near the bend in his arm where a horse tried to stomp him to death after he tried to break the beast. He had already ridden the horse successfully before and yelled for his dad not to hurt the animal, but it was too late after his dad grabbed the pitchfork. He met my grandmother through her brother who was a fellow 'hobo' that jumped trains with him before he joined the Navy. He was not only in the Navy, but was drafted into the Army at 36 for WWII toward the end of the war. Luckily, he never left training camp in Texas, from where he'd send home the rattlesnake tails from his meals. He eventually ran his own paint contracting business and was known so well for his ability to mix color from sight, he would have strangers come to the house after he retired, still asking for his expertise.
I wanted to find a picture of him (if I find one to scan, I'll add it later.) But while searching the Internet for a possible photo of him, I ran across my cousin, Marc Nance. He's The Third and there is even a Fifth! Apparently he's running for City Council in Maryland:
Marc Nance and his wife Beverly have been married for 32 years. They have lived in Mount Airy since early 1986. They have raised four children, all of whom attended local public schools.
Marc received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Dayton in 1980. He works as a design engineer at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
