By Michelle Rodriguez
The Belton Journal
Joan and Maurice Northen celebrated 70 years of marriage on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.
“It’s hard! We had stalwart Baptist parents. That’s what we were taught! There’s no list of rules,” said Joan Northen when asked how they stayed married so long.
The couple was married October 16, 1954, at First Baptist Church of Belton, where they have been members, Joan for 80 years and Maurice for 70 years. Their parents picked their wedding date.
“My mother designed and created the satin and tulle wedding dress. The dress cost $30,” Joan proudly stated. With inflation today, it would be $350.79. Their daughter Robin Northen McAfee wore it at her wedding and her daughter might wear it. There’s no commitment for her to wear it.
Maurice was born on the Curry Farm in his grandparent’s house in 1933 in the 3 Forks Community, the Leon River is behind it. His mother was Jennie Mae Curry and his father was Houston Northen. He worked on the farm with his father for 57 years.
“We did not milk cows. We raised field crops, milo, corn, oats, wheat, hay, and cotton that were sold to the market. I picked the corn. We used a grain trailer. We didn’t have an 18-wheeler. It was pulled by a ½-ton pickup. Daddy hauled it. I ran the combine and enjoyed every minute of it,” said Maurice. Maurice and his father Houston produced the first bale of cotton in Bell County. Together they also participated in the Belton 4th of July Parade with a mule drawn covered wagon and supported the Belton Chamber of Commerce for many years. Maurice along with farming, worked for the Belton Post Office for 35 years, and was recognized as a 1,000,000-mile carrier.
Joan moved to Belton with her family during the war at the age of 8 with her parents to help her grandparents on the Thomas/Normand dairy farm which was located near the old Leon Valley Golf Course. Her mother was Ara Lee and her father was R.T. Normand.
1949 was an important year for Joan and Maurice. Both of their fathers, Houston Northen and R.T. Normand were coaches on each of their younger sons’ little league team. Joan and Maurice attended the ball games, and a true love story was hatched. Also in 1949, Maurice was a 16-year-old FFA student. He won the Houston Livestock Show Grand Champion Duroc. This was a big deal for him, his family, his FFA chapter, Belton High School, Belton, and his agriculture teacher. The pig sold for a world record price at the auction and was purchased by American oil tycoon and owner of the Shamrock Hotel, Glenn H. McCarthy.
Both Joan and Maurice are Belton High School graduates. Joan graduated in 1954 and Maurice graduated in 1950. They have four children. The eldest child is Norman, who was followed almost four years later by sister Royda Northen Frazier, and then 11-1/2 months later, another sister, Robin Northen McAfee.
“I raised my daughters Royda and Robin like they were twins. I dressed them alike,” said Joan. When the children were in preschool Joan attended UMHB when it was still an all-girls school. She was a teacher in BISD for 22 years and began the Early Childhood Program for BISD. Five generations of the Northen/Normand families have attended UMHB.
“I thought I was finished having children, but Carol Beth surprised us,” said Joan. Their youngest daughter Carol Beth Taylor is 16 years younger than her sister Robin. Joan was also a Quilt Historian.
“I was a member of the program at the museum, I went to Chattanooga, Kentucky for appraisal classes in 1999. I can tell where a quilt was made which is the most important, not who made it. People would bring quilts to me, and I would tell them where it was quilted. I would get excited when they told me I was right,” said Joan.
Their son Norman recently retired in March this year from his career as a florist. He won the TSFA 2024 Achievement Award. Royda is also retired. Robin is a teacher and lives with her parents and the 3 children work together to take care of their parents. The youngest child Carol Beth lives in Rockwall, TX and works as a Pathologist Assistant at Methodist Hospital.
They have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
