Resident of the Month

Norma was born in New York City in 1927. She is the second oldest of her siblings, Eddie, Millie and David. Her early years were formed by her experiencing the city in the throughs of the Great Depression. Her father owned his own Grocery store and was involved in importing and exporting with South America. He extended Credit to many patrons during the lean years. Norma witnessed stress between her parents over financial security. Aware of the stressful economic times, she did her part to help her family by helping her mother do Piece work sewing for the clothing companies residing in the city. At her mother side, she learn Sewing and alteration. She became skilled and continued to exercise her abilities throughout the rest of her life. The enjoyment of sewing and clothing became a staple of her life. Spanish was the Primary language of her parents and Norma became fluent in both Spanish and English. She attended private school through the Seventh Day Adventist Church and like many women of her time learn professional skills in office work. After Graduation she accompanied her mother and lived several years in Caracas, Venezuela. After returning to New York, she worked as the Executive Secretary to New York based firm with International Markets. It was at this time her father died unexpectedly of an abrupt illness. Though living independently, she was still very close to her father and was devastated. It was in 1959 at a dance held by the American Woman’s College Association that she met her future Husband, Arthur. She was very impressed by an American male who knew how to perform Latin dance.
He was 10 years her senior. A widower and a WWII navy veteran. Following the war, he got his Master’s Degree and was employed as an Electrical Engineer working for Westinghouse Elevator. They Married in 1960. For their Honeymoon they rode motorized bikes through several countries in Northern Europe. They had their first son, Darin in 1961. Not wanting to raise their family in Manhattan, they purchase land in the rural Central New Jersey and built a home. Sons Evan and Philip followed in 1963,1965. Norma stayed home to raise their children in their early years. As they grew older, she became more involved with community activities. Having been raised in NYC with exposure to all of the Arts, she was able to return to one of her passions, Music. She had learned to play the piano as a young girl and returned to playing, acting as one of the organists for the small Methodist church the family attended. She had a particular love of symphony music and while volunteering was voted President of the Plainfield NJ Symphony Auxiliary 1971-1973. Once her sons were old enough the desire to return to work re-emerged and she secured a position as an executive secretary to the vice president of the German Pharmaceutical company, American Hersch. Norma had started College when she was younger but left when she married. She began to revisit her thoughts about her education and while working during the day began attending Night school at Thomas Edison University. She completed her Bachelors in Business and began working for Somerset County as a Salary Administrator. She performed this role till she and Arthur retired in 1986.
They decided to divide their time between Boone, North Carolina mountains and Vero Beach, Florida, being one of the first generations of “snow birds”. They continued to do this until 2007 when Arthur passed, (after 47 years of marriage) from a pulmonary embolism. Norma stayed by his side for 4 months between repeated hospitalizations and rehab stays. Having friends in both locations, Norma continued to travel between the 2 homes until 2013 when her own health forced her to reconsider the difficulty of the transitions. He sons had married and started their own families and she decided to relocate to Greenville which she knew well from visiting over the years to see her Grandchildren. She has 4 Grandchildren: Ethan, Hunter, Collin and Christina who are all working on advance degrees or starting their careers. She initially moved to the independent living facility at the Cascades at Verdea. However, when her health began to decline, she realized that she needed more assistance and transitioned to Oakview to be even closer to her family.