Nola Nadine Rector was born in Peggs, Oklahoma on September 4, 1929 to Ruby Grace Tyler Kiddy and William Worley Kiddy.  Her birth was followed by Dale Kiddy and Loy Kiddy and her sister who is now deceased, Gazelle Kiddy Johnson. Her father was an itinerant preacher and her mother was a seamstress, a cook, a homemaker and a loving Christian. She recounted many instances of people having illnesses or injuries and her father praying and their being healed.
     She spent her growing up years in many different towns and states but she loved the mountains of Arkansas and said it felt more like home than anywhere else.  She also thought of her best friend from Arkansas Betty Webb most every day of her life.
     She loved cats, dogs and all animals. Nadine had a hand towel in her kitchen that read “Love every living creature.”  And she lived it.  She had compassion on every kind of living creature.
     She was an excellent artist and loved to draw for endless hours.  She especially loved to draw faces and portraits, especially those of her granddaughters & grandsons.
     Being Black Dutch and Irish, she had a flair for the dramatic.  She just had a flair.  She may have been Pentecostal but she liked wearing flashy colors.  She loved shiny things and things that sparkled.  She had an artist’s eye and she loved beauty and color.  In her last weeks, she couldn’t take her eye off her daughter’s striped purse!
     She was headstrong and independent.  After graduation from high school, she left her family under her father’s protest and, on her own, moved to the Big City of Tulsa into the YWCA where she made many friends and got a job as a telephone operator.
     She was Beauty Queen beautiful, but had absolutely no interest in marriage until a tall, dark, handsome Cherokee man took her on a blind date.  He had a friend from Cherokee country, who married a friend of Nadine’s.  Nadine set up her friend Maxine with Clifford’s baseball buddy Milo on a blind date and the rest was history.  They set a double wedding but Maxine and Milo jumped the gun, getting married before them.  Clifford went to his boss and asked for a couple of days off.  It was his boss who had to say, “Clifford, are you getting married?” To which Cliff, or “Tip” shyly admitted. On September 9, 1950, Nadine became Mrs. Clifford Rector. 
     They had four children, Leta Marlene, Curtis Douglas, Daryl Brian a daughter-in-law Teresa and Mark Wayne Rector.  She especially loved children.  She said she never particularly had any interest in children until she had her own.  Then she was unstoppable, in love with all children!  And all children in love with her!
     She worked as a home health nurse at Bartlett Memorial Hospital in Sapulpa. She was fun-loving and high-energy.  One of her great attributes was that she never excluded anyone.  She loved everyone, including the unlovable.  It was a common occurrence to see her walking up to strangers and sharing the Gospel with them.
     Nadine sang well.  She loved music and transferred that love to her daughter, starting her in voice lessons as a teenager.  Her favorite song was “I Come to the Garden.”
     She was a fighter and never let the disease dictate her life.  She fought to stay awake, she fought to hold her head up, she fought to remember, she fought to hold her eyes open, she fought to talk.
     She was also hilarious, had a great sense of humor, was very witty and had a real way with language. She could even make a joke about herself. Not bent toward the domestic, one of her favorite T-shirts read “Dinner’s ready when the smoke alarm goes off.”  Up until Sunday, the day before her graduation to heaven, she was cracking jokes.  She said, “I love you” and identified her “Mama and Daddy” in a photo.
     She loved Jesus above all and trusted Him and took her children to church and led them to eternal life.  Her true passion in life was saving people for heaven.
     She has five grandchildren Jennifer Ashford and husband Dennis, Christopher Rector and wife Heather, Kim Rector, Amber Watts and husband Jeff and Jeremy Rector.  She has five great-grandchildren Taylor Watts, Julia and Trenton Ashford and Raegan and Morgan Rector.
 
Service:
Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Cathedral of Praise
Sand Springs, Oklahoma

Cemetery:
Green Hill Memorial Gardens
Sapulpa, Oklahoma