Still no updates in Alma Louise’s case. Not sure if it’s still the case, but a few years ago, law enforcement had reached out, trying to find contact information for her family. I don’t want to invade her family’s privacy, but it is worth knowing if she has any relatives left who might have known her or could at least have DNA for comparisons. Doing some digging on Ancestry, I don’t know that there’s any close relatives left, especially who actually knew her. Based on her nickname (Weezie) being derived from her middle name, I wondered if she either went by Louise at one time or the double name Alma Louise.
Searching that way, I believe her brother and only full sibling (R Jr.) died at age 12 in the 1950s following a long illness, at which time her parents (mom M and dad R Sr.) were no longer together, with she and her mom living in Shreveport, while her dad was in Dallas.
Looking him up, her dad’s WWII draft card says he had black hair, brown eyes, and a light brown complexion, like Alma. Pictures show a strong resemblance. It appears that after fathering Alma and R Jr with M in the mid-40s, they then separated, with him marrying T and fathering a boy (RW) and a girl (K) with her by the 1950 census, when they were living in Natchitoches, LA. He was married to a 3rd woman at the time of his death from a heart attack in 1980, outside of Fort Worth. His obituary doesn’t refer to any family, so I’m unsure if he had any other children.
His second (?) wife T passed away in 1971. At that time, both of T and R’s children, Alma’s half-siblings, were still living. RW was going by W and living in Robeline, LA, and K was married and living in Wetherford, TX.
RW died at age 35 in 1982 in TX, but I can’t find anything to indicate he had any children.
K has four children: B (daughter), (C (son), K (daughter), and K (son). B passed away in 2004, leaving a daughter, AS. C (son) passed away in 2014, also leaving a daughter, MP. K’s daughter K, Alma’s half-niece, has two living children. I can’t find anything about K (son) or any children. As far as I can tell, Alma’s half-sister K is still living in TX.
Mom M was living with her parents and two sisters, V and one also named Alma, in LA in 1940. M, R Jr, and Alma don’t seem to show up at all in the 1950 census (I looked with her sisters, her parents, etc.). City directories show M living in Shreveport in the mid- to late 50s, working as a cutter, a seamstress, and a stamper. M and presumably one of her sisters (an “aunt”, possibly V, who seems to have lived in LA, vs Alma in TX) were the last relatives to see Alma Louise alive in 1981. At the time of M’s sister Alma’s death in 2001, M was listed in the obituary as living in Dallas. When her other sister V died in 2003, M was listed as living in Arlington, TX. M died in Dallas in 2007, seemingly without ever remarrying or having other children.
It looks like Alma’s closest living relative may well be her half-sister K in TX. It’s quite possible they had no close contact, as they seem to have lived in separate states most of their lives. Barring that, Alma seems to have numerous matrilineal cousins (the other Alma had one daughter, with issue, while her aunt V had a large family), cousins once and twice removed, etc. who could be a source of at least mitochondrial DNA.
A new yearbook photo of Alma:
