We told Mom that she was coming home from the hospital soon for taco night. On Monday, May 2nd, 2022 she put her sassy pants on one more time, put the Pearly Gates into the navigation system, and instead went home in the Heavenly sense, because God has better tacos than we do.
Jane was gifted to William and Marion Campbell (nee Carr) on October 12th, 1955 in Jackson, MS. Bless her heart, she never did put the “brat” in “Air Force brat” as her family hopped across the country, eventually settling in Mobile, AL with her brother Michael and sisters Claire and Natalie.
While she was attending the Bishop Toolen School for Girls, she took up the flute, and in between band practice and Latin class she charmed the sense out of an unsuspecting clarinet player from across the street named Jimmy (Norville, not Buffett). They married on March 5th, 1974, and took two years to perfect their mischief-making skills before they started raising three little mischief makers of their own.
Somehow, she managed to survive raising Helen, Debbie, and James III without going completely gray, and was a second Mom to several of their friends. This was quite the impressive feat, as it was more like corralling cats on speed for almost twenty years. She accomplished this with all the love in her heart, as well as the help of her beloved dogs Fred and Katie.
Once the kids were out of the house, Mom celebrated by getting a bottle of rum, another beloved dog named Phred and taking trips around the world from time to time. After Jim passed on, she filled the time with work, random dog-sitting vacations, nontraditional holiday celebrations with her nontraditional offspring, and the occasional Jimmy Buffett concert.
In the last year of her life, she was gifted with a bonus older brother, Charles Campbell. With a common love of history and dogs, Jane and Charles hit it off immediately. Charles even met with the approval of her equally beloved Duncan, Mr. Buttons, and Ms. Pooh, so it was official. He became part of the family.
Mom certainly gifted us all with her unique sense of humor. You had to be smart to understand it, or at least handy with a thesaurus or a Latin-English dictionary. She believed that laughter was always the best medicine, even if the various attending physicians didn’t quite see the humor at the time. Even when she was no longer able to walk, the first thing she asked for was a pirate flag to hook on the back of her wheelchair (a stuffed parrot to go with it was optional, but preferred.)
Her outlook on death was just as irreverent as her outlook on life, if her knowledge of Evelyn Waugh’s book The Loved One was any indication. She didn’t want any fanfare or to disturb the neighbors, even going so far as to ask the paramedics not to run the lights next time. She swore she would haunt us if her funeral was too over the top, and when asked about arrangements her response was to “Flambé me, please.” Since the last thing any of us want is her ghost to quote Bugs Bunny in Latin (“Cur me in frigido et frigido loco sepelis?”) at the most inopportune moments...
Meeting Mom at the door for God’s awesome tacos are her father William Campbell, her brother Michael Campbell, and her husband James Norville, Jr. She is survived by her mother Marion Campbell, her sisters Claire (Alain) Schoeder and Natalie Anthony, her rambunctious better angels Helen Raines, Deborah Meehan, and James Norville III, and her delightful grandchildren Grant Meehan, Natalie-Claire Meehan, and Rhiannon Petithory.
Mass will be held Monday, May 9th, 2022 at 11:00 AM at St Thomas Catholic Church in Chickasaw, AL.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.radneyfuneralhome-mobile.com for the Norville family.
