Early Life
Louie Broady Nunn was born in Park, Kentucky – a small community on the border of Barren and Metcalfe counties – on March 8, 1924. His given name, Louie, honored a deceased friend of his father's; his middle name, Broady, was a surname in his mother's family. Louie was the youngest of the four sons born to Waller Harrison and Mary (Roberts) Nunn; their youngest child, Virginia, was their only daughter. The Nunns were farmers and operated a general store, though Waller suffered from a congenital heart condition and severe arthritis and was limited to light chores. The eldest brother, Lee Roy, became an influential campaigner and fundraiser for the Republican Party.
Nunn obtained the first eight years of his education in a one-room, one-teacher schoolhouse in Park. During his teenage years, he gave himself a hernia while lifting a heavy piece of farm equipment. This, combined with his father's health history, may have contributed to back pain issues that plagued him for most of his life. In 1938, he matriculated to Hiseville High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Bowling Green Business University.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Nunn departed for Cincinnati, Ohio, to take flying lessons in hopes of becoming a B-17 pilot. By the time he finished his flight training, however, the Army had discontinued its air cadet program. On June 2, 1943, he enlisted in the Army and received his recruit training at Fort Wolters near Fort Worth, Texas. He was transferred numerous times. First, he was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base near Wichita Falls, Texas. Next, he was assigned to the 97th Infantry Division, then received additional training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Finally, he transferred to the Army Medical Corps, but his back injury flared up, and he received a medical discharge on September 13, 1945. He held the rank of corporal at the time of his discharge.
Following his military duty, Nunn pursued a pre-law degree at the University of Cincinnati. Three years later, he matriculated to the University of Louisville School of Law where he was a classmate of future congressman Marlow Cook. Nunn earned his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1950. He opened his legal practice in Glasgow, Kentucky, in September 1950.
On October 12, 1950, Nunn married Beula Cornelius Aspley, a divorcee from Bond, Kentucky. The couple had two children – Jennie Lou, born in 1951, and Steve, born in 1952. Aspley also had three children from her first marriage. Nunn left the Methodist denomination in which he had been raised after marrying Aspley, joining her as a member of the Christian Church.
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