Norma was a true trailblazer. At just 21 years old, she left her home to work for Aramco in Saudi Arabia, where she met Vicki and Blake’s father, Thomas William (Cully) Culpepper. They married in 1952, beginning an adventurous life together that took them to Western Australia, where they lived in the Outback on a sheep farm for three years. They later transferred to Tripoli, Libya for 15 years, and made many trips to Italy to visit her parents before finally settling in Houston, Texas in 1970.
Norma lived a life made for the movies. She was incredibly proud of meeting the legendary actor John Wayne in 1956 in Tripoli, Libya—where he was filming "Legend of the Lost" in the desert with Sophia Loren—and she loved sharing the photos of them together. Most notably and heroically, while living in Tripoli, Norma and Cully risked their lives to hide a Jewish family in their home during the Six Day War in 1967. They successfully and safely helped the family flee to Italy, thus beginning a lifetime friendship that followed them through generations and until the very end.
At home, she was pure joy. She loved Andrea Bocelli, dancing in the living room to the piano, and was always cooking up an Italian storm in her kitchen. Norma was also a dedicated member of St. John Vianney Catholic Church. She was our matriarch, and we will miss her deeply.
Norma was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Franklin, whom she married in 1980, as well as her sister and best friend, Joan Bunting.
She is survived by her daughter, Vicki Krieger; her son, Blake Culpepper; her grandchildren, David, Kristen, Janelle, and Chase; and her ten great-grandchildren, Matthew, Zachary, Jacob, Harmony, Lukas, Alyssa, Will, Chloe, Annabelle, and Ben.
