Norma M. Dodd

Norma was born August 11, 1929, in Camden, NJ, to Daniel and Edith Ryrie, the fifth of five children. She was what could be called a late-in-life surprise baby, and often expressed puzzlement at even being born. Hers was a challenging Depression childhood; her family was on relief, and she recalled she sometimes couldn't afford milk at school. She learned early on the value of a dollar, or, more likely, a dime, and thrift would serve her well her whole life.

There was neglect in Norma's life: an absent father, a loving but hardworking and less than nurturing mom. She knew early on that she wanted something different.

Norma attended Camden public schools, graduating from Camden High in 1947. She excelled in her secretarial courses, loved typing and shorthand, and developed a beautiful flowing handwriting that was admired her whole life.

Mom worked at a Camden stationer's as a teenager; her first job out of school was at Campbell Soup.

A caring aunt saw to it that Norma was baptized as a child and taken to a local Methodist church and Sunday school. Norma loved it and thrived on it. She was a believing Christian who knew she was going to heaven and would meet her Savior and her departed loved ones.

At that first church, young Norma met a nice family, the Dodds. In the 1940s, as part of a church project, she began writing to Thompson Dodd, a Navy signalman stationed in the Pacific. She continued writing after he returned and was hospitalized with battle fatigue, now known as PTSD. It turned out to be love (Dad had competition but triumphed over a guy named Melvin). Norma and Tom married on June 12, 1948. She was 18, he was 26.

She wanted to be and thought she was going to be a minister's wife, but Tom's studies took a turn to business and accounting. Mom was very disappointed, but accepted it.

In the '50s, the two were delighted to welcome two daughters, Linda and Janice. Dad pooh-poohed his family's notion that Norma should give him a son. Mom was more than a little put out at this whole issue.

Norma was a perfectionist homemaker, clearly believing cleanliness was next to godliness, and desiring the model family with curly-haired girls thanks to Toni home perms. She was not an adventurous cook (she'd rather be ironing), but her corn fritters, strawberry shortcake and deviled eggs were amazing. She was a loving but strict mom. She set rules; we obeyed -- and spanking was not off the table. We were "those nice Dodd girls" whose mother kept them off the street. (She did not take well to the inevitable rebellion; Janice likes to think she helped Mom be more open-minded. Maybe.)

We four all enjoyed board games and card games and lots of lake trips and Ocean City Sundays. Mom merely endured the tours of forts that Dad enthusiastically organized.

Norma loved reading, Eddy Arnold, the Phillies, housecleaning, a nice salmon dinner, her alone time, Jimmy Swaggart, walking around Cooper River Park, lunching with friends, the word "dainty," and housecleaning (!).

Her dislikes were dirt and dust, clutter and chaos, bad manners, things not being done "the right way," and being called "cute" in old age.

Mom had a bright smile and a friendly greeting for all. She had a lively sense of humor, a love of rhyming with Linda, and a knack for mimicry that cracked up her son-in-law. She adored family jokes. To this day, thanks to Dad mishearing a phone message in 1970, we still tell each other not to enjoy yourself but to "self-enjoy."

Norma loved the working life when she returned in the '60s; she was a secretary at West Jersey/Continental Title Insurance until her retirement.

She was an active member of Fairview Village United Methodist Church, where she sang in the choir and performed solos. (She was always nervous soloing, but sang beautifully.) She also worked church dinners and served on the Board of Trustees. And she did some Girl Scout "cookie mom" duty.

After her two daughters delivered two college degrees, three divorces, and a few emotional crises, things settled down a bit. Two grandchildren came along in the '80s and a great-grandson in 2019, and Mom-Mom/GG couldn't have been prouder.

In later years Norma and Tom enjoyed seeing the country by way of Navy reunion trips, and they made it across the ocean together once, on a Methodist church-led trip to England. In 2008, daughter Linda was overjoyed to have Mom join her on a trip to Spain.

When Tom developed dementia in 2000, Norma cared for him for five years. Not long after he died, as she tended his grave, she bumped into a gentleman who was tending his wife's grave. Once again, it was love... octogenarian style this time. Henry got her hooked on crosswords, Norma was his arm candy, and they were together till his death in 2020.

Norma was "one tough cookie," as an admirer called her; she outlasted one pacemaker and was on her second. She lived independently until age 91, when she moved in with Linda. But gradually the body failed. In her final nursing home months, there was talk about whom she recognized or if she recognized anyone. Moments passed and she presently piped up, "I recognize something important... love."

What an epitaph.

Norma is survived by two daughters, Linda Dodd and Janice Ward (husband Steve); a granddaughter, Katy Terry (husband Mark), a grandson, Henry Ward, and a great-grandson, Robin Ward Terry.

Visitation for family and friends will be held on Monday, January 12, 2026 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. followed by a Funeral Service at Blake-Doyle Funeral Home, 226 W. Collings Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108.

Interment will follow in Locustwood Memorial Park, 1500 Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002.

Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association,

3 Eves Drive., Marlton, NJ 08053, www.alz.org.