Norma Pearl Oaks Humphries of Melbourne, FL died peacefully on January 25, 2022 with her daughter by her side. She was 87.
Norma was born on July 25, 1934 in Cortland, Ohio. Her father, Norman McKinley Oaks, was a carpenter who built houses and retired from a career at Boeing. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Evans Oaks, was a homemaker. Norma was the youngest of 5 children. She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Clarence, Royal, Earl, and William.
As a young girl, Norma would walk from school with her friends to the small downtown streets of Cortland, browsing the shops and peering into the restaurant windows. They skipped down the sidewalk and chatted about their friends and teachers. On the weekends, while running errands with her family, Norma would sit in the front seat of the car with her parents while her older brothers sat in the back. This made her feel special as she peeked over her shoulder or in the rear-view mirror, secretly watching and admiring her brothers while they told jokes and roughhoused.
After graduating from Cortland High School, Norma moved to Rockledge, Florida, following a few of her brothers south. During her young, single years, she worked as a bank teller and enjoyed taking her boat out onto the river and channels and spending time with her friends. In the summer of 1955, she met Wiley, who was living with his brother down the street. They spotted each other outside on multiple occasions. One day, Norma pretended to swat flies while turning it into a wave to Wiley. They were eventually introduced. After a few dates, they were inseparable and married in 1956.
During their early marriage, Norma and Wiley lived in Rockledge. They went on movie dates and ordered pizza on Friday nights, examples of the simple pleasures that would define their life together. In 1959, they bought a newly built house on King Richard Road in Melbourne, FL, where they lived until this year. In 1960, their beloved daughter Alicia was born. Norma and Alicia loved going to Big Orange Park for picnics and to feed the turtles.
Norma and Wiley were active members of Harbor City Christian Church for many years, where they attended with their daughter and eventually grandchildren.
Norma loved spending time with her grandchildren and kept them while their parents worked. She changed diapers and put them down for naps as a young mother would. As they got older, Norma invited them into her kitchen, teaching the proper way to whisk eggs (quick oval motion!), chop onions, and slice potatoes. She would pop a slice of raw potato in her mouth and laugh as the grandchildren gasped. They would go to the park and eat pineapple cream cheese sandwiches and play "I spy."
Keeping her mind active in later years was very important to Norma. An avid reader, she frequently exchanged books with her daughter Alicia, and together they read many of the same mysteries, romance, and thrillers. She worked on Sudoku puzzles and played word games on her iPad with her friends and family. Many say she was a relentless competitor, winning most of the time with high-scoring words.
In 2018, Norma was diagnosed with breast cancer. After months of quiet resilience (Norma had a high tolerance for pain and no history of complaining in the least), she beat the disease and was given a clean bill of health. Sadly, cancer returned in late 2021 in the form of leukemia.
Norma is survived by her husband, Wiley Humphries; her daughter, Alicia Emory; grandsons, Bob Tennant (Katie) and Adam Tennant (Kristin); and 3 great-grandchildren, Owen, Chloe, and Aria.
In lieu of flowers, and if you're able to, consider donating blood or platelets at your local donation center or Red Cross. In Norma's final weeks, she received blood and platelet transfusions that sometimes arrived just in time due to the nation-wide shortage. Alternatively, if you would like to make a monetary donation to One Blood (they supply blood and platelets to all of Florida), send a check to: One Blood Foundation, Inc., ATTN: John Murphy, 8669 Commodity Circle, Orlando, FL 32819.