‘It really makes you think about who you are’ | North Texas photographer’s portraits tell a story of life, lost, and family

PLANO, Texas — Marsha Whaley does not like getting her picture taken. 

But the Cleburne resident knew having this moment captured by Plano photographer Larry Lourcey was too important not to have. 

In the portrait photo, Marsha is holding on to her 20-year-old daughter Neah’s fiddle. It is one of the last things she has of her daughter who died in a January fire in Cleburne.

“There’s too many memories and too much pain,” said Marsha.

Whaley adopted Neah when she was eight years old from an orphanage in Ukraine. Marsha describes Neah’s condition and that of the orphanage as ‘horrible.’ 

Whaley tells WFAA that Neah had cigarette burns on her body and was malnourished and neglected.

“She was non-verbal, she made up her own sign language. [For us] it was love at first sight,” she said. 

Marsha describes Neah as a fun, un-entitled, sweet, girl who wanted to experience things.

Marsha had introduced all of her children, biological and adopted, to music. Neah took to fiddling quickly with the help of Joey and Sherry McKenzie.

“If you put her on stage and hand her her fiddle, she said a lot,” said Marsha. “It was her voice,” said Sherry.

Neah went from being a shy non-verbal child to a sweet, budding, fiddler who was putting words and sentences together.

“I think that’s my lesson from knowing her, the joy in small things,” said Sherry.

The McKenzie’s, who were fiddle teachers turned into Neah’s godparents. 

They were heartbroken to hear the news of Neah’s passing. Neah was upstairs when the accidental fire raged through their Cleburne home in January. Marsha remembers it was a very frigid day.

“I can’t think of anything worse that’s happened in my life,” said Joey.

In the days following the fire Marsha, Joey, and Sherry had attempted to retrieve anything and everything that survived the fire. Marsha miraculously found a pair of Vans shoes that Neah always wore.

 Joey and Sherry found a pair of fiddles that Neah had once used. One of the fiddles was in pristine condition and, according to Joey, still in tune. Another fiddle was deeply scarred by the fire.

Marsha will cherish the shoes and fiddles as it reminds her of her precious daughter. Marsha now wears a tattoo with her daughter’s name on her wrist and it’s in Neah’s writing.

Larry Lourcey has turned portrait photography into a career. 

He tells WFAA his portrait work is a lot more than just a headshot. He likes to tell stories with his pictures. And often times to mix it up from the monotony of portraits he likes to dabble in special projects. 

One of the projects he is currently working on is called, “The One Project.” Larry’s webpage describes the project as “a study of people and their sentimental items.”

“You get home, the house is on fire, what’s the one thing you run in and grab? What’s the hardest thing to replace?” Larry asked.

Larry says a lot of people first choose their phones but he reminds us that phones can easily be replaced. He also says people and pets are not included. Finding that one thing is often about finding ourselves.

“The portrait is not nearly as important as the story,” said Larry.

Over the last year and a half, Larry has taken more than two dozen portraits. His subjects are carrying items like store receipts, figurines, books, paintings, and anything that has true sentimental value to the person.

“It really makes you think about who you are,” said Trisha Mistry who brought her mother’s cookbook from the 1960’s.  Don Chamblee brought the store receipt his wife signed when they first met decades ago.

“If it wasn’t for this my life wouldn’t have been the same,” said Chamblee.

For Marsha Whaley the item she chose to take a portrait with was easy. The fiddles found inside the home were a symbol of her daughter’s spirit and the start of Neah’s freedom.

“Neah’s fiddle for sure…I miss her so much,” said Marsha.

There’s the first thing you’d take in a fire and then there’s the last thing you have. 

For photographer Larry Lourcey it’s like his project is coming full circle. When Larry first heard about Neah’s story, he knew he had to get in touch with the family and get a portrait with Marsha. He says it would really cap off his photo project.

“I think it’s going to fit in just perfectly,” Lourcey said. “It’s not the one thing you’d get out of the house. It’s the one thing that was left after something,” he said.

Marsha will forever keep the instruments that remind her of Neah. And now, she’ll also have the portrait of her holding the fiddles that meant so much to her daughter.