Norma J Friestad

Norma Jean Friestad (née Marken), 94, went home to be with the Lord on December 28, 2022. Norma was born in Copley, Ohio on January 17, 1928, to L.M. and Rena Marken. Growing up in the Seville, OH area, she graduated from Westfield High School in 1946. Attending the Lutheran Bible Institute in Chicago, she met Lee Friestad, and after graduation in 1948, they were married in August. They relocated to Canton, South Dakota for Lee to do further schooling at Augustana Academy while Norma worked in the bookstore, moving back to Ohio in 1950 and another move to Rockford, Illinois in 1951 for Lee’s work. They finally settled in Stillman Valley, IL, where they raised their four children. Lee always promised Norma they would relocate back to Ohio upon retirement, and they moved to Loudonville, OH in 1990. One more move in 2014 brought them south to Leeds, Alabama to be closer to children.

Norma’s life was one of faith and serving the Lord in her daily life and every church they attended. She taught Sunday school, served on committees, organized food for mission trips, and led Bible studies. She was a planner, ran a tight household, did childcare in her home for a few years, and then had a 20-year career as a teacher’s aide in the elementary school in Stillman Valley. She hosted many Sunday lunches for family and friends, enjoyed reading, sewing, making crafts of all kinds, scrapbooking, working puzzles, Christmas cookie baking, and making fruit cakes each year for Lee’s siblings. She kept up with missionary friends serving all around the world and hosted when they were home on furlough. She was a 20-year volunteer with hospice organizations. She wrote for church newsletters and the resident’s newsletter at Saint Martin’s in the Pines where she moved in 2021. Lee and Norma had many cross-country driving trips through the years, visiting family and friends. She started keeping a daily diary in 1953 until just a few days before her passing. Her kind and gentle spirit made it easy for her to find friends everywhere they lived.

Norma is survived by three of her children, Angie (Ferril) Davis of Tucson, AZ; Gwen Deierhoi, Birmingham, AL, and Gary (Kathy) Friestad, Smyrna, GA; her 10 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren; her youngest brother, Howard Marken of Columbia City, Indiana, and many loving nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 73 years, LeRoy Friestad, her youngest son Dale Friestad, son-in-law Mark Deierhoi, and three brothers and four sisters.

A memorial service will be on Monday, May 8, 2023 at Leeds Methodist Church beginning at 10:30AM Interment will be next to LeRoy at the Veterans Cemetery in Montevallo, AL on Monday, May 8, 2023 beginning at 1:15PM. Memorials can be made to Leeds Methodist Church, Leeds, AL; Zion Lutheran Church, 222 E. Main Street, Loudonville, OH, 44842, and Hospice of North Central Ohio, 1021 Dausch Drive, Ashland, OH, 44805.