Norma Bumpus
Norma Jane Bumpus (born Norma Jane Allen on February 18, 1934 in Duncan, Oklahoma; died March 28, 2016 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) was an educator and principal of Leeds Elementary School.
Norma Allen was the daughter of John Thomas and Annie Bell (Edwards) Allen. She was one of six children. She graduated from Colorado City High School in Colorado City, Texas in 1952. On March 5, 1955 she married fellow education student Robert Bumpus and became Norma Bumpus.
Bumpus graduated from Bethany Nazarene College in Bethany, Oklahoma in 1956. After both had graduated, the couple moved to Birmingham and had two children, Robert Franklin Bumpus III (1956) and Laronda Ann Bumpus (1958).
Bumpus enjoyed a 34-year career as an educator and earned advanced degrees in elementary education and educational administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She taught third through eighth grades in Birmingham and Decatur. She later served as an assistant principal, then became principal of Leeds Elementary. The school earned a Blue Ribbon from the United States Department of Education under her leadership. She retired not long after.
The Bumpuses were also very active in the Nazarene Church, first in Bethany and then at Birmingham First Church of the Nazarene. They also helped start Forestdale Church of the Nazarene and served on the Alabama Nazarene District Council. And she spent some time as a counselor and program director at Camp Cosby.
The couple also lived in Decatur, Morgan County for a time and were active at Decatur First Church of the Nazarene, where Norma founded, directed, and taught in the church's first Children's Chapel, a special ministry for children to teach them how to worship. She went on to share the philosophy of the Children's Chapel ministry with others as Director of state-wide Nazarene Children and Youth Workshops.
After Robert's retirement in 1996, the Bumpuses went on Work and Witness trips, including spending several months of 1998 volunteering at at the Nazarene Theological College in Muldersdrift, South Africa. The couple went on to settle in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where Norma died in 2016.
Norma Bumpus was preceded in death by her parents, siblings, and son. She was survived by her husband, daughter, six grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. Her body was interred at Resurrection Memorial Cemetery in Oklahoma City.
References
- "Leeds Elementary's Norma Bumpus Leaving Career That Wasn't Work." (September 7, 1994). The Birmingham News.
- "Norma Jane (Allen) Bumpus (1934-2016) Obituary." (April 1, 2016). The Birmingham News.