{"id":1064,"date":"2026-09-18T15:34:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/?page_id=1064"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:57:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:57:40","slug":"lora-bumps","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/lora-bumps\/","title":{"rendered":"Lora Bumps"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lora Bumps,
\nPainter and Lover of Oysters, Dies at 100<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Beth Greenfield<\/a> Sep 16, 2026<\/p>\n

       Lora Bumps, a longtime Truro resident and painter of still lifes, died on Aug. 9, 2026 at RegalCare at Harwich. She was 100.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was smart, kind, an avid reader, and she had a phenomenal memory,\u201d said her son, Luther. \u201cAnd she was devoid of discrimination and imparted that to both me and my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was born Lora Hemond in Mendon on May 22, 1926 to George Hemond, a defense contractor consultant and later a builder, and Helen Hemond, a nurse who had been one of the first women to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Lora lived on the family farm owned by her grandfather, Luther Holbrook, until it was lost in the Depression; she then lived in several Massachusetts towns until her parents moved to Wellfleet in 1941.<\/p>\n

Lora graduated from Wellfleet High School in 1943. A decade later, she wed Robert Bumps, a farmer who became a builder. The couple settled in Truro, adopted two children \u2014 Pam in 1958 and Luther in 1962 \u2014 and had a marriage that lasted for 54 years until Robert\u2019s death in 2007.<\/p>\n

Lora became a dedicated homemaker who had various other talents and interests. She was a gifted painter, said Luther, mainly creating still life images and studying with artists including Jerry Farnsworth and Milton Wright.<\/p>\n

She collected antique bottles, too. To find them, Luther said, they would \u201cgo out in the woods with a metal detector,\u201d as glass bottles would often be discarded along with metal trash. \u201cShe liked the shapes of bottles and the how the light went through them, and we had a fair amount of them on shelves around the house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His mother also raised and bred Siamese cats at home, invariably choosing one kitten to keep from each litter. \u201cAt one point we had seven adults and two batches of kittens,\u201d said Luther. \u201cIt was so much fun. They\u2019re very social, vocal cats, and I think she liked the colorations and their personalities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1997, Lora\u2019s daughter died of a stroke. \u201cShe didn\u2019t talk about it much,\u201d said Luther.<\/p>\n

In her later years, Lora lived with her son, moving into rehab only for the last three weeks of her life. As for why she was able to live long enough to become a centenarian, Luther has a couple of theories. First, he said, \u201cMe. I took good care of her. She said that and often thanked me.\u201d He also pointed to her strong immune system, as she rarely got sick \u2014 not even when she tested positive for Covid at 94 but showed no symptoms. For that, he credits the fact that she was \u201cfond of oysters,\u201d which contain more zinc per serving than any other food source.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe ate them two to three times a week,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are pretty convinced that her eating oysters kept her from getting sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lora was \u201ccompletely lucid right up until the last couple weeks,\u201d said Luther, who believes she would want to be remembered for the kids she raised. \u201cShe was proud of both of us,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cIt was really nice to have her for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lora is survived by her son, Luther Bumps of North Truro; granddaughter Jessica (Smith) Debord of Chattanooga, Tenn.; grandson Justin Smith of Los Angeles; and great-grandchildren Savannah Debord and Kennedy Debord of Chattanooga.<\/p>\n

She was predeceased by her daughter, Pamela Bumps Smith of Knoxville, Tenn.<\/p>\n

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10 at the Christian Union Church in North Truro.<\/p>\n

Published In the Provincetown Independent, September 18th<\/sup> 2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lora Bumps, Painter and Lover of Oysters, Dies at 100 By Beth Greenfield Sep 16, 2026        Lora Bumps, a longtime Truro resident and painter of still lifes, died on Aug. 9, 2026 at RegalCare at Harwich. She was 100. \u201cShe was smart, kind, an avid reader, and she had a phenomenal memory,\u201d… Read More »Lora Bumps<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template\/page\/fullwidth.php","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1064","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1064"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1079,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1064\/revisions\/1079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianunionchurchtruroma.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}