James "Jim" Jay Norman

Blessed to have lived the American Dream. Born August 10, 1929 in Louisville, Kentucky to Mary Ednor [Waggener] Norman (deceased) and Jay Stuart Norman (deceased). The family, which included older sister Mary Ann [Norman] Lobdell (deceased; husband Pierre Brian Lobdell, deceased), moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where I attended St. Rose Catholic School and went with my Dad to baseball games to see both Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean and his brother Paul “Daffy” Dean pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals and Babe Ruth play, when the Yankees came to town. My Dad and I loved to watch baseball games.

My Dad lost his job in St. Louis during the Great Depression, so we moved back to Louisville because he found work. But, then came the flood of 1937…no jobs, no electricity, no school…things were tough for everyone. In 1940, the family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and I went to St. Joan of Arc Catholic School.

Growing up poooor [yes, that’s 4 Os] at age 11 I had a paper route Monday through Saturday, delivering on my bike the Indianapolis Times, and on Saturdays I also delivered groceries. For the first time in my life, I had spending money and that felt good.

I started high school at Cathedral High School, like all Catholic boys. But, after missing a lot of school due to having spinal meningitis, I transferred to Shortridge High School. I loved it there. I was asked to join Alpha Omega Fraternity, the only high school frat in the US, and was elected President. I kept the paper route through high school, delivering the Indianapolis Star 7 days a week, 600 papers for a while, which was too many for one person to deliver on foot, then, 180 papers, at 5 cents a paper. Sometimes after dances on Friday or Saturday night, my date and friends helped me deliver my route. In 1948 I [barely] graduated from Shortridge.

Oh yes, the date I didn’t let get away…Patricia Ann Gass from “the other side of the tracks”. She went to Ladywood School for Girls, a finishing school run by the Sisters of Providence and lived on Washington Boulevard. Patty was beautiful and smart. After high school, Patty’s parents (mainly her mom, Dorthy [Darmody] Gass (deceased)) sent Patty to Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri…to forget about me. That didn’t work…after Patty had been gone only a few months, her mom called me and asked me to go visit her at college, which I happily did.

After high school I was working at the Standard full-service gas station at 49th & Pennsylvania when I got my lucky break. A man who came to the station liked me and said I “have what it takes to sell snow to an Eskimo”, suggested I look for a job at the Gibson Company and arranged a meeting for me. Little did the man know but Patty’s dad, Edward M. “Bud” Gass (deceased), ran the place. When I was there for my meeting with Mr. Gault, Patty’s dad saw me and said “Don’t hire that kid, he dates my daughter”. Mr. Gault said to me: “That’s all I need to hear…you can start as soon as you want.” Well, as they say, the rest is history. I was around cars the rest of my life. I went from stocking shelve, to working on the parts counter, to selling on the road, to managing 2 of their branch stores, until, finally, in June of 1960, I bought my own joint {a/k/a store} in North Manchester, Indiana…Jim Norman’s Car Parts Depot. It was in an old railroad depot.

In between 1948 and 1960, a lot happened. I married Patty on June 3, 1950…on our honeymoon, the Korean war broke out. On December 31, 1951, I was drafted into the U.S. Air Force. I was trained to be a weather man. During my 4 years in the Air Force, I lived 1 very cold year [I mean beyond anything I’d ever experienced before] in Alaska…we were called “balloon chasers”.

I returned from Alaska in 1955 and received a Hardship Discharge because my dad had cancer of the throat and I, the only son, was needed at home to work and pay bills. I returned to work selling car parts for the Gibson Company.

In 1956, Patty and I were blessed with our first child, a girl, from Catholic Adoption Services out of Indianapolis. The day our daughter (Mary Elizabeth “Beth” [Norman] Becker; husband Timothy Becker, Sr.) was given to us, Patty and I went to show her off to my parents. By this time, my Dad could no longer

speak. I said to my Dad: “Look Dad, aren’t we so lucky!!!” My Dad took a pen and paper and wrote: “She’s the lucky one” and tossed his cherished watch towards me. Later that night, my Dad passed away.

Patty and I wanted a big family and I guess sine we were doing a good job raising our daughter we were blessed with 3 more children from Catholic Adoption Services: John Patrick (1958; out of Indianapolis; deceased); James Edward “Sam” (1962; out of Ft. Wayne) and Nancy Ann (1964; out of Columbus, Ohio [Norman] Buis; husband Edward M. Buis).

While we lived in North Manchester, I was elected President of the Chamber of Commerce, President of Rotary Club, a member of the American Legion Post 286, elected to the Board of Directors for the Indiana Automotive Wholesalers Association, serving as an advisor for their Insurance Trust for 20 years. I was never elected President because I never missed a meeting and when my name came up I said “no-way.” I’m also proud the Governor of Kentucky made me a Kentucky Colonel in 1994 and in 2001 the Mayor of Paducah, Kentucky made me a “Duke of Paducah”.

After years of living in North Manchester and spending summers with many of our life-long friends on Natticrow Beach at Lake Wawasee, in Syracuse, Indiana [with me driving back/forth for work every Monday thru Saturday], we built a year-round house on Natticrow Beach. I still drove back and forth to North Manchester to work but I opened a second Car Parts store in Syracuse. We also bought a Chalet at Caberfae Ski Resort in Cadillac, Michigan. I loved the chalet…it was the best “dog house” a husband could want. After all kids were out from under foot, Patty and I started being “snow birds” in Venice, Florida...a little slice of heaven on earth.

After running the Car Parts Depot for 32 years, I retired in 1992 and Patty and I really started enjoying life, traveling all over the world. You name it, we went there. The Alaska cruise was our favorite. One night in 1998 when we were on a riverboat cruise, Patty got up to dance to one of her favorite songs “Mac the Knife” she couldn’t move…Patty was diagnosed with Parkinsons at age 69. Although we loved our house in Venice on Jacaranda Country Club…I could play golf 365 days a year… and all the wonderful friends we made in Florida, many from England and Canada, Patty’s Parkinson’s became more debilitating, so we moved back to North Manchester to live in a condo at Peabody Retirement Community, so to be close to our kids, family and long-time Indiana friends. Patty passed away at age 88. Shocking to myself and many others, I lived 8+ years without my Patty, until I passed away in the early morning on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at Peabody Retirement Community. In addition to those mentioned above, I am survived by many wonderful grandchildren, great-grandchildren, sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephews.

I’d like to be remembered as a person who left things better than I found them. And, besides my family, I’m most proud of the role I played in raising money to buy the ground and hire the architect to build St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in 1965 in North Manchester…where my funeral Mass will be said.

At the age of 96, I believe it’s appropriate to share some things I’ve learned: I’ve lived poooor and I’ve lived rich…I prefer rich. Hard work pays off…don’t give up because sometimes it takes longer than other times for the pay-off. Never forget from where you came and the help you received along the way. Be someone who says what they mean and mean what they say. And, you have to be a friend to have friends.

I’ll sign off with the advice heard by everyone, including many priests, who called my phone and got my answering machine: “Life’s too short to drink cheap booze…Amen”.

Family and friends may call Saturday, January 24, 2026 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church, 1203 State Road 114 East, North Manchester, Indiana. A funeral Mass will be held at the conclusion of calling with Father Daniel Koehl and Father Jay Horning officiating. A graveside service will be held at 2:30 p.m. at Oaklawn Cemetery, 600 Beckley Street in North Manchester, Indiana.

For those who wish to honor the memory of Jim Norman, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, 1 Sisters of Providence, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana 47876, or St. Elizabeth Coleman Pregnancy & Adoption Services, 3388 Founders Road, Suite 200m, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268, or the American Legion Post 286, 215 East Main Street, North Manchester, Indiana 46962.

The Family of Jim Norman has entrusted McKee Mortuary with care and final arrangements.