Living color: Marie Nowell takes comfort in coloring

As a summer storm gathered outside, 92-year-old Marie Nowell spent the last Thursday afternoon in July in a comfortable chair with a box of crayons, coaxing a cartoon bobcat from monochrome to technicolor.

"When I get these last two done, I'll have finished this book today," she said, leafing through the thin coloring book before hesitating. "Well, no I ain't."

She'd filled out the first two pages the previous morning, she remembered. But even if she'd started the day with a fresh book, one a day is well within Nowell's wheelhouse, having dedicated much of her spare time over the past five years or so to a hobby she says helps keep her relaxed.

"If I didn't have [these coloring books] I'd just go wild." she mused, an air of roguish detachment in her southern drawl. "They'd have to put me in the insane asylum."

The inscription page of a bound, coffee table-type coloring book is seen Thursday, July 30, 2020, at the home of Patricia Silman in Cape Girardeau. The book was colored in crayon by Silman's mother, Marie Nowell, now 92, who began coloring to cope with stress at Silman's urging about five years ago.TYLER GRAEF ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian

She glanced up from her book at her daughter and caretaker, Patricia Silman, who laughed. The books had been Silman's idea, something to keep her mother's mind occupied in the period after her eldest son, Bobby, suffered a brain aneurysm which left him wheelchair-bound.

Patricia Silman, right, laughs at a joke told by her mother, Marie Nowell. Most evenings Nowell can be found here in Silman's home, coloring page after page of coloring books, a habit she picked up at Silman's urging to cope with stress but has since grown to truly enjoy. TYLER GRAEF ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian

It worked like a charm, and the practice was especially helpful last year, when she lost her husband, Robert Lee Nowell, after more than 75 years of marriage. Now, Nowell aims for 10 pages a day.

"But when I get these little books, I do the whole book," she said.

Although publishing companies popularized coloring books for adults as a wellness aid over the last decade or so, Nowell insists she's not too picky about the subject matter.

She's a fan of the television show "Downton Abbey," and between the antiquated costuming and Heathcliffe's moody locks, she found much to appreciate in a fancy Wuthering Heights coloring book as well. But most of the completed books neatly stacked in the next room are simple dollar store finds or standard Disney fare.

That's okay with Nowell, who's more interested in the process anyway. Plus, the kids' books give her something to work on with her 38 grandchildren.

A portrait of Marie and Robert Lee Nowell is seen on display in the room where Marie Nowell does her evening coloring. Robert Lee Nowell died last year, but after the couple celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. Coloring, Nowell found, helps her relax, especially after emotionally taxing days like the previous day, July 29, when Nowell and her daughter Patricia Silman had visited Robert's grave for his birthday.TYLER GRAEF ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian

"And eight great-great-grandchildren," she added.

Even if she and her 6-year-old great granddaughter, Hayes, don't always agree on color choices.

"I colored the horse brown," Nowell said. "And [Hayes] said "That horse was s'posed to have been blue,' but I don't watch cartoons... She's a pistol."

But at the end of the day, Nowell doesn't see too much point in having too many rules though. Except, she insists, pictures really ought to include her favorite color, green.

"If ya ain't got green in it," she said. "Ya ain't got no color."

Photos, memorabilia and an American flag are seen on display in the room where Marie Nowell does her evening coloring.TYLER GRAEF ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian