Lora Bumps

Lora Bumps was a longtime Truro, Massachusetts, resident and still-life painter who died on 9 August 2026 at RegalCare at Harwich at the age of 100. Born Lora Hemond in Mendon on 22 May 1926, she grew up on her grandfather Luther Holbrook's farm until the Depression scattered the family's stability, moved with her parents through several Massachusetts towns, and settled with them in Wellfleet in 1941. She graduated from Wellfleet High School in 1943 and kept Cape Cod as home for the rest of her life.

A decade later she married Robert Bumps, a farmer who became a builder. They made a home in Truro, adopted daughter Pam in 1958 and son Luther in 1962, and remained married for 54 years until Robert's death in 2007. Alongside homemaking, Lora painted still lifes under teachers including Jerry Farnsworth and Milton Wright, collected antique bottles found with a metal detector in the Cape woods, and bred Siamese cats whose colour and voices filled the house. Neighbours knew a reader with a sharp memory and little patience for prejudice.

Her daughter Pam died of a stroke in 1997, a loss Luther said she rarely discussed. In later years Lora lived with Luther in North Truro, remaining lucid until the final weeks of her life. He credited her longevity partly to devoted care and partly to a zinc-rich habit of eating oysters two or three times a week, a routine that even seemed to help when she tested positive for Covid at 94 without symptoms.

She is survived by Luther, grandchildren Jessica and Justin, and great-grandchildren Savannah and Kennedy. A memorial service was set for 10 October 2026 at Christian Union Church in North Truro. The Provincetown Independent published her obituary on 16 September, capturing a centenarian whose art, animals and appetite for oysters were of a piece with a long Outer Cape life.

On the Outer Cape, longevity is often told through work and weather. Lora's version ran through paint, glass bottles catching afternoon light, and the oysters Luther swore protected her. The Independent's portrait made plain that a hundred years can still feel too short to a son who liked having his mother around.