This week I was given a copy of a really nice story that appeared last week in the Madison, Indiana, Courier about Glasgow resident Norma Luke.

Norma, who is a native of Madison, was interviewed about a book she had written about her recollections of growing up in the southern Indiana community during the Great Depression.

If you follow this column, you’ll remember I’ve written here recently about the Depression and my respect for those who lived through one of this country’s greatest crisis periods and how they dealt with the hardships it brought.

I also wrote recently about Ruth Mitchell Rutledge Dunker, a Glasgow native who now lives in Madison and is a noted author in her own right, known there as Mitchell Dunker.

Those mentions of Mrs. Dunker prompted a couple of nice telephone conversations with Mrs. Luke, who called to tell me that she had grown up in Madison, was planning a trip back there and hoped to look up Mrs. Dunker to exchange some Glasgow stories.

Then came the copy of the story in the Madison newspaper by Pat Whitney about Mrs. Luke and her book.

Norma is well known here for her many community involvements including a longtime association with the GED program. At age 79, she continues to teach English and creative writing to students working to earn their GED. She was quoted in the Madison story, “In the 12 years I have taught, I’ve never lost a student.” All her students have gone on to earn their certificates.

Many will also remember Norma was named Ms. Senior Kentucky at age 65 and in 2003, she was named one of four winners of the prestigious Jefferson Award for her community service. Not age, a series of debilitating strokes or the onset of blindness have prevented her from achieving some lifelong goals such as graduating summa cum laude from Western Kentucky University in 2001.

The artist, poet and author’s work detailed in the Madison story is entitled “Recollections: Depression Days Revisited,” which is a series of 36 stories and poems about growing up during the Depression.

In her writings, she remembers a 10-cent double loaf of bread, clothing made from feed sacks, men out of work and bartering for goods.

She told her interviewer in Madison, “This book is dedicated to all children who grew up during the Depression and WWII. We were the ‘make do’ generation. We learned to be self reliant and strong. We were born in the worst of times but grew up in the best of times.” The book was written under the pen name Ormana.

The year after she earned her college degree, Luke started a group called “Hearts and Hands,” a group of women who knit and crochet clothing and afghans for victims of domestic violence. The group grew from five to 27 members who have given thousands of dollars worth of handmade goods to battered women in the area.

Luke is also the author of two cookbooks and. with her degree in psychology/sociology and behavioral sciences, she is working on her next book, “A Biopsychosocial Approach to Death and Dying Gracefully.”

For information on the availability of her writings, Luke may be contacted at 48 Greenlawn Drive in Glasgow.

My thanks to Margie Kinslow for sharing the copy of the story from the Madison paper.