Norma Joyce Harmon

On January 27th, at age 103, Norma passed peacefully away at Anchor Pointe retirement residence surrounded by family. A most reluctant flyer had made her final journey, rejoining beloved husband of 68 years, Keith.

The childhood sweethearts from Chelsea Street, St. Catharines, were married in 1945 and immediately began building a house in which to raise a family, first on Cameron Rd., then another on Arlington Avenue, all within the same neighbourhood of St. Catharines - a busy couple. They followed Keith’s work briefly to Scarborough then to Vankleek Hill (with another house project), making new friends as they went. Here, Norma bravely suppressed her extreme fear of flying in order to begin exploring the world with Keith and their friends.

Their next stop was Kingston, making more new friends, and once piloting their boat up the Rideau Canal to Ottawa and on to Hawkesbury. They finally returned to their roots in St. Catharines (Arlington Avenue), where Norma worked part-time outside the home while the children finished their post secondary educations, a source of great pride to her. Norma and Keith continued traveling, to visit family in Europe and Australia, and to China and beyond in retirement. Volunteering for Meals-on-Wheels and the UCW at Westminster Church, and processing the produce from Keith’s massive gardens helped to fill any spare moments.

Norma was a woman of few words but those words were well worth waiting for. She had a marvellous sense of humour and many of her one-liners are frequently retold by her family of whom she was so very proud. A devoted mother, who lived for her family, she is survived by her children, Kerry (Karen), Chris (Beth) and Joy (Simon) but is pre-deceased by Anne Marie. Her grandchildren are Jessica, Lara, Elise and Trevor. She was greatly looking forward to the arrival of her first great grandchild in mid February.

Norma requested there be no funeral. However, in honour of her cherished friend, Deborah, donations may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society (www.mscanada.ca).