Norma Louise Johnston

Norma was born on October 21, 1927, in Kansas, the only child of Frederick McGahan and Mildred Robinson.

In junior high, fate first brought Norma together with a boy named David Jerome Johnston. After graduating from Towanda High School, Norma went to work as a phone operator at the Towanda Exchange. But David never gave up on her. After some years apart, the two found their way back to each other, and in 1953 they were married in Eldorado, Kansas. Norma carried that devotion with her for the rest of her life. Her greatest legacy is her daughter, Riki.

Norma had a rich creative spirit. She loved playing cards and painted for most of her adult life, finding it to be one of her purest joys. She was also well known among her circles for the poems she loved to read aloud to guests at celebrations, and she spent a lifetime writing both prose and poetry, filling volume after volume — a treasure she left behind for her niece to read.

Norma was preceded in death by her beloved husband, David, in 2017, and by her two sons, Stephen Lee in 2013 and Randall Craig in 1982.

She is survived by her daughter, Ricqua Sue Johnston, of Loveland, Colorado; her granddaughter, Lisa Lee Kerley (Jimmy); her great-grandchildren, Emma Kerley and Jace Kerley; and Shelly.

Norma’s warm heart and playful spirit will be missed by all who knew her.