Memorial
Norma M. Kern, 87, died July 16, 2016, at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House in Hiawatha, surrounded by her family.
Services will be Friday, July 22, 2016, 11:00 AM, at the M. J. Kirby Post of the American Legion in Blairstown, Iowa. The family will greet visitors at the Legion Hall beginning at 10:00, and a luncheon at the hall will follow a brief committal service at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Blairstown. Cedar Memorial is providing assistance to the family.
Norma Kern was born July 2, 1929, the youngest child of Roy and Margaret Myers Zigler. She married James F. Kern on January 9, 1949 in Blairstown where they made their home until retiring to Marengo, then Mesa, AZ in 1987. Norma worked at Amana, Armstrong’s, and Marengo Hospital, but she was best known for easily making friends, her ceramics and crafts, her sense of humor, and for her baking and sharing of cookies, cakes, brownies, and other sweet treats. Her favorite moments were spent with family, playing bingo, and visiting the casino.
Surviving are her son, James Kern, and two daughters, Deborah Toy and Susan Ellenberger, all of Cedar Rapids; granddaughters Tara (Rich) Hall, Frea (Graeme) Errington, Trina Savard, and Amanda Ellenberger; eight great-grandchildren; sisters-in-law Jayne Roth and Jo Ann Fiester of Blairstown; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, siblings, and three sons-in-law.
The family is grateful to Hospice of Mercy for their generous and compassionate assistance in Norma’s final months.
Memorials may be directed to the M. J. Kirby Post of the American Legion in Blairstown, the Oldorf Hospice House, or another charitable organization.