NORMAN, Thelberta Claire (Bigalk) 1920-2006

MANDELKO, BIGALK, NORMAN, KIDD, LAHR, DOWNEY, DAVIS

Posted By: IAGenWeb Volunteer
Date: 10/30/2010 at 08:42:49

Cresco Times, November 15, 2006, page 6A

Services held for Thelberta Norman

Funeral services for Thelberta C. Norman of Denver, CO were held on Friday, November 10, 2006 at Zion United Methodist Church in rural Cresco with Rev. Mike Carey officiating. Interment was in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

Thelberta, 86, died Sunday, October 22, 2006 at the Porter Hospice in Centennial, CO.

Thelberta Claire Bigalk was born September 26,1920 in Albion Township, the daughter of Charles and Clara (Mandelko) Bigalk. She attended Lincoln rural school and graduated from Cresco High School in 1937, earning her teaching certificate. Too young for it to be issued, she enrolled in post-graduate business courses and worked in Cresco. She taught rural school for three years, then left to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder. With WW II in progress, she moved to Denver after summer school, worked as a receptionist, and attended night courses on aircraft maintenance. When the course was completed she was assigned to the Air Force base in Casper, WY. It closed two years later and she was transferred to San Bernardino, CA until the end of the war.

After spending time with family in Iowa, she began working at the Mayo Clinic and remained there almost 10 years. She had always enjoyed traveling, spending her vacations touring the United States and much of Canada, so she left her job to make a six and one half month around-the-world trip and arranged to spend the Christmas holidays with her sister, Shirley, who was with the American Embassy in New Delhi, India. Arriving home in late spring, she again returned to the University of Colorado, working at Altaian's, and later becoming manager of their branch store near the campus.

On November 26,1958, she married William T. Norman in Denver, CO and has remained a resident there since that time.

As a homemaker, she especially enjoyed entertaining family and friends, various hobbies, and for many years was an active member of her church and neighborhood.

Thelberta is survived by her daughter and son-in-law: Anne and Robert Kidd of Parker, CO; and three sisters: Beryl Lahr of Compton, CA, Carol Downey of Rogers, AR, and Shirley Davis of Cresco.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William on March 2, 1998; her parents; and three brothers; Clinton, Arvid, and Roger Bigalk.

Obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa and contributed by Janice Sowers, 2010. Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer.