Mom & Nate

My parents were divorced when I was about 12 or 13 years old and my brothers and I remained with my father. My mother remarried in 1975. She married a man named Nathaniel Smart (Nate). They were married for 30 years until she passed away in 2006 from cancer. They were an inseparable pair – you couldn’t think of one without the other – and Nate was at her side when she passed away at their home. Nate was an auto mechanic and worked at local service stations. Mom didn’t work. They lived a low income life and went everywhere by car. When my mother’s sister passed away in Sacramento, CA I flew out to help with the arrangements and the estate. Mom and Nate drove from Michigan to California and back. I often think that they saw more of the United States than I ever will because they went by car on all their trips and stopped at any place they thought was interesting. They used to come through Raleigh a couple of times each year to visit me. I would pick them up at the Motel 6 and we would go off to see the sights or attend events. They inherited a large sum of money from her sister and it didn’t change them a bit. I was so happy when I had a phone call with them and heard that they had decided to buy a Mercedes Benz E-class sedan in a custom color. It was so funny to pick them up at the Motel 6 and the Mercedes was parked in the parking lot. They owned a house in a low income neighborhood in Flint, MI and one time my mother remarked to me that she was happy that there were only 3 abandoned houses on their block! And, yes, they kept their Mercedes in their garage in that neighborhood.

Perhaps you’re thinking this is a nice story but nothing special. Perhaps the picture below of my mother and her husband will change that perception. Mom and Nate were a pioneering interracial couple of the 1970’s. Nate was the most down to earth and grounded person you will ever find. I used to worry about them visiting me in North Carolina but they never had any issues. Nate passed away in 2011 at my brother’s home in Dallas. My brother and I looked after Nate after Mom died and my brother made Nate’s later years an amazing experience for him. I looked after his finances and my brother took awesome care of Nate.