Lucille Kathleen Norris Burns was the fourth child born to Major Curtis Norris and Stella Marie Adkins on 26 July 1915 in Kanawha County, WV. There was a question in my mind earlier as to whether “Lucille Kathleen” was actually twins because Lucille’s birth was recorded as 26 July 1915 by the physician; “Cathlene’s” birth was recorded as 27 July by the mother, Stella Adkins. Fortunately, both records show that only 1 child was born at the time of birth. Granted, only one child can be born at a time but I think the physician would have had the sense, had their been twins, to distinguish 2 children born at this birth. This is a good way to confuse the heck out of Julie.
Note to all of those paying attention: READ and study the records thoroughly.
We find Lucille Kathleen in both the 1920 and 1930 Censuses residing with and in the care of aunt Carrie Ethel Adkins and uncle Hamilton Weares on Poplar Street on Charleston’s West Side. I’m still hoping to find her in the 1940 and 1950 censuses, possibly even a marriage record, to help determine more details about Lucille Kathleen Norris but what I have found so far is extremely sad information.
It is contained on her death record. I realized earlier that she worked as a waitress (1938, 1940, 1942 City Directory) and is listed in the directories with a husband named Raymond Burns or Ray R Burns. I’m still searching for Ray but I’ve a sneaking suspicion he left Lucille Kathleen about 1943. Why?
Because the death record shows that she’d been a guest of the Huntington Mental Hospital since 1943. I couldn’t begin to guess why Lucille needed to be hospitalized in a mental institution until I studied the death record and researched the data. Lucille died of sepsis (life threatening infection) due to 3rd degree burns on what appears to be 50% of her body: her clothes had caught fire. The third contributing factor was chronic brain syndrome: “memory loss, language impairment, disorientation, changes in personality, difficulty in carrying out daily activities,” as one website defined it. In short: Dementia or young-onset dementia. Apparently the sepsis was not brought under control after she was taken to the Welch Emergency Hospital in McDowell County, WV.
Lucille died 25 days later on what I believe was her 55th birthday. The informant on Lucille’s death record was her sister, Louise Smith or Nina Louise Norris. Her remains were sent to the Snodgrass Funeral Home on McCorkle Avenue, Charleston and subsequently interred at Sunset Memorial Park in South Charleston.
All that leaves me asking: How does a dementia patient set herself on fire under the watchful eyes of nurses and orderlies in a mental hospital?
“West Virginia Vital Research Records – Record Image”. 2024. Wvculture.Org. dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=1992297&frame=00372
