Nola LeRoy Walman's Obituary
Nola LeRoy Walman was born in Adelaide, South Australia, on February 4th, 1940, to Leith John Warner, a decorated WWII pilot and Lorna May Minshull Warner, a hairdresser and homemaker.
In her early childhood, due to wartime complexities, Nola and her brother, Bud, had been separated from their parents and sent to live with their Auntie Elsie and Uncle Bill Hart and Nana Warner. Nola and Bud walked into the little town of Millicent to attend school and enjoyed many happy days exploring the farm. They were assigned chores but the chores never really seemed like work to Nola as she got to do them with her brother and she enjoyed the independence. Nola and Bud were constant companions and Nola often recounted how, without their parents, it sometimes felt like it was just her and Bud against the world. Naturally, they formed a bond that was very tight and lasted throughout their lifetimes. Ultimately, the lack of parental love and care that was missing would only serve to intensify Nola's love for her own children and her loved ones during her life. We take comfort that she left this world knowing that she had been responsible for the creation of a family that not only received her love but also reciprocated that love back to her and between each other.
Although Nola spoke fondly of nights sleeping next to her aunt with a hot water bottle in the backyard lean-to add-on, with cold wind whistling through the planks in the wall, the reality of life on the farm was challenging. These years were some of her happiest with Bud even though she knew they didn't have their mother and father to raise them and love on them like other children did.
In her early teens she moved to Adelaide to live with her Auntie Walburg and Uncle Jim Wilson. She graduated from Adelaide Girls' School in 1958. When she was 17, a chance encounter walking down the street in Adelaide changed the trajectory of her life. Nola was approached by an Australian Air Force recruiter asking if she'd like to join the Air Force. She relished the idea of going out into the world on her own but she was under the legal age to officially serve. On her 18th birthday, she returned to the recruiting office and made it official. With the Air Force, she found a sense of stability and continuity that she had missed during her childhood. In the base canteen, she met a handsome young air force serviceman whom she says was the best looking one in the whole of Edinburgh AFB. All the other female Air Force cadets thought so too. But Nola knew she was destined to marry this man and she did. Nola married Bryan William Walman, in February 1960. During their 20 year marriage, they welcomed a son, Steve, in 1962 and a daughter, Samantha, in 1968. Bryan was a salesman in the oil industry and the family began a journey to multiple locations that eventually landed them in the United States. In between Adelaide and the U.S., they lived in Melbourne, Singapore and eventually settled in Houston, TX, in 1979. In 1981, Nola found herself the sole breadwinner and in need of employment. She began working at Hudson Engineering in February of 1981, followed by TXE Automation. She was a hard worker and one of her colleagues encouraged her to enroll in drafting design school. She put herself through night school and graduated top of her electrical design class with the highest scores. She was the only woman in the program so she was already blazing a trail.
She subsequently worked for several companies in Houston, including Fluor Daniel, Bechtel and Kellogg Brown & Root. She made many friends in the industry, impressing them with her diligence. She remained in contact with many of these coworkers throughout the remainder of her life. During her tenure in Houston, Nola followed through on something that was very near and dear to her heart. She was always appreciative of the sunburnt country she hailed from, but she was so very proud to become an American citizen in 2002. She voted in every presidential election after that, even when she had to be taken to the polls in a wheelchair and wait in long lines. Nola understood the price of freedom and she guarded it fiercely.
Several years later, Nola moved to Denver, CO, to join her daughter, Samantha, at Jacob's Engineering. They enjoyed driving into the mountains together outside Denver over the next few years. Nola loved the vistas and the snow but the altitude was compromising to her health. The need to return to sea level became paramount and Nola moved to Tulsa to be near Steve, his wife, Loie, and Nola's two granddaughters, Hannah and Emma.
Shortly before she left Denver, Nola became mommy to a little black dog who would steal her heart. Oscar would become Nola's constant companion and little shadow. It's not a stretch to say that he became her third child and Steve and Samantha would probably admit that at times Oscar was at the front of that pecking order.
Nola's arrival in Tulsa marked the end of her days of moving to different cities but she enjoyed two wonderful communities in Tulsa that welcomed her with open arms and hearts: first, Honey Creek, and second, Covenant Living of Bixby. Nola made friends quickly wherever she went and everyone who met Nola fell in love with her sweet smile, her gentle nature and her beautiful Australian accent.
Nola was preceded in death by both her parents and her brother, and by her former husband, Bryan (Terry King, of Tulsa and Destin, FL). She is survived by her son, Steve, and his wife, Loie, their two daughters, Hannah and Emma, all of Tulsa; her daughter, Samantha, and partner, Dave Nowicki of Denver; her sister-in-law, May Warner of Yundi, SA; her nephew, Leith Warner (Kristy) and family, of Yundi, SA; her niece, Fiona Warner Mesiano (Rocco) of Melbourne, Vic, AU; niece Niki Warner Davies and family of Murray Bridge, SA; cousin Fay Warner Campbell and family of Adelaide, SA and a host of extended family and dear friends in both Australia and the U.S.
The family wishes to express our sincere thanks to the residents of Honey Creek and to the staff and residents of Covenant Living, who both enriched Nola's life and loved and cared for her over the past several years in Tulsa. She loved you all and spoke fondly of you often.
Finally, but certainly not least, to God, her Creator and her Savior, be the Glory for Nola's life. She has been a gift and a blessing to all those who have had the pleasure to know her.
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