Norma Morales Becker

Island, Florida, passed away Monday, September 23, 2013 after a brief illness.

Norma was born March 5, 1926 in New York, New York. She graduated from

Industrial Art High School and Traphagen School of Design in New York

City, where she studied art and fashion design.

Norma was an early-adopter of new technology before the term even

existed. She was the first person in the family to own a movie camera,

video camera, desktop computer, laptop, notebook, and Kindle.

Norma was hard-working. She delivered newspapers. She worked as an

office manager, an airline reservations agent, and a Pinkerton

detective, rooting out smuggling at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

She and her brother Lou Morales drew strips and did hand lettering for

comic books written by Stan Lee. She created hand-lettered window-sized

ads for auto parts stores, hardware stores, building supply centers, and

other businesses in the Merritt Island area.

Norma loved people. Her husband Lawrence Becker's 20 year Air Force

career took their family to Alexandria Virgina, Upper Marlboro Maryland,

Waipio Hawaii, Grand Forks North Dakota, and Satellite Beach Florida,

where she hosted Bunko parties, birthday parties, card parties, and

Halloween haunted houses.

Norma was bi-lingual. She used her fluency in Spanish to help those who

were new to our country feel at ease.

Norma was resourceful. When her second hand two-door Packard sedan

needed a paint job, she bought a can of blue enamel paint and painted it

with a brush. It dried shiny and showroom new, with no brush marks. No

one could believe she had painted it with a brush.

One year when money was tight her youngest son Lou wanted a tricycle for

his birthday. She bought the biggest second hand trike she could find,

painted it yellow, and used a hand made stencil to paint the fenders

with the hot new TV superhero logo - black Batman wings. It was the

coolest ride in the neighborhood for the under-five population.

Norma was meticulous. She created three libraries and cataloged

thousands of books for the church library at Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Church in Marietta, and the Women's Health Center Library and Girl Scout

Resource Center at Riverpoint in Merritt Island.

Later in life after being diagnosed with diabetes, she recorded her

blood pressure and blood glucose twice a day in a small hand-lined

notebook in precise, finely lettered print. At the Marietta office of

her primary care physician, Dr. Steven Lenhard, she was known as "The

Lady With the Notebook."

Norma was a teacher. She was known as Granny Bee at MILA Elementary

school in Merritt Island, where she read books to kindergarteners.

Through the Georgia Literacy Volunteer and Marietta Reads programs, she

read to students who were English language learners at Powers Ferry and

Dunleith Elementary Schools.

Norma was an organizer. She directed Girl Scout day camps, conducted

training sessions for new scout leaders, administered an English as a

Second Language Program for adults, and coordinated registration for

numerous Vacation Bible Schools.

Norma loved to sew. She made all her children's Halloween costumes. She

designed and constructed realistic-shaped stuffed animals for her

children and grandchildren. She bought a pattern book and made Cabbage

Patch dolls several years before they became a national retail

sensation, and gave them away as gifts to family and friends.

She taught sewing classes at her grandchildren's homeschool co-op, and

made countless quilts for Quilts for Kids and Operation Linus.

Norma loved the theater. While living in Merritt Island, she and her

husband traveled frequently to Daytona Beach, Orlando, and Melbourne for

off Broadway shows.

She was a season ticket holder at Theatre in the Square in Marietta and

Georgia Ensemble Theater in Roswell. The week before her death, her

last night out with the girls included dinner at El Zarape, and a

performance of "Almost Heaven - John Denver's America."

Norma loved a cocktail. In the final years of her life, her son-in-law's

mother, Peggy Smith, joined her once a week in her home for happy hour.

There was a special place in the door of the refrigerator for the jar of

olives for Peggy's martinis, and the jar of onions for Norma's gibsons.

Norma knew how to have fun in all circumstances. She was equally at ease

in a fancy cocktail dress having drinks next to a table full of

celebrities at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City--or roasting a

hot dog on a stick over an open fire at a Girl Scout campout at Turtle

River State Park in Arvilla, North Dakota.

Norma loved her family. She was happiest when she was laughing

and joking with her husband, children, grandchildren, and extended family.

Norma was preceded in death by her husband of 45 years, Lawrence Becker,

and her brother, Lou Morales.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Billy Smith of

Marietta, Georgia, son Gene Becker of Crofton, Maryland, son and

daughter-in-law Lou and Shari Becker of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and

grandsons Carl Becker, Wilson Smith, and Nathan Smith.

A memorial service will be held Friday, September 27 at 7:00 PM at

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, 2240 Shallowford Road, Marietta,

Georgia 30066. The family will receive friends in the Fellowship Hall

immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be

made in her name to Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church.