Chapter 4
LurleenLurleen Melody McCracken was born December 7, 1941, the daughter and oldest child of Dan and Lana (nee Plough) McCracken in Chicago, Illinois at 4:55 PM at Mercy Hospital on Prairie Avenue, weighing in at 7 lb. 1 oz. on a bright chilly afternoon with a strong zephyr out of the north. Lurleen was the first of three children, including later her younger twin brothers James (“Jim, Jimmy”) and William (“Bill, Billy”).
Somehow you might now guess it was going to be epic because she was born on that day that would “live in infamy,” right? If so, you would not be wrong. Lurleen, as Lana, lived for the most part in “famy.” With the stars and moon and sun and planets aligning, there must be something to it because there is Lurleen.
“I smoked so many cigarettes while staring at
