Hillsboro - Walter Norman, 88, died September 14, 2021 at his residence in Hillsboro. He was born July 22, 1933 in Pryor, Oklahoma to Gaylord and Lorene (Frields) Norman. He retired from the Wichita Police Department and Cessna Aircraft. He married Betty Gossen April 15, 1966 in Wichita.
Survivors include: daughters, Ruth Ann Stevens of Sanford, North Carolina, Betty Jeanne Pack of Alpharetta, Georgia, Dana Deon Hamilton of Wichita; son, Rahn William Carlson of St. Paul MN; sisters, Elizabeth Ann Armbrister, Doris Jean Sheats, Velma Sue Kelly, Jane Lorene Foster, Mary Alice Kelley; 6 grandchildren. Predeceased by his wife Betty Norman in 2014.
Committal service 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at Haven of Rest cemetery 1 mile East of Hillsboro. Memorials to Hillsboro American Legion Post 366 in care of Jost Funeral Home P.O. Box 266 Hillsboro, KS 67063. Online condolences at www.jostfuneralhome.com.
Life Sketch Taken from the Funeral bulletin
Walter Emmett Norman was born July 22, 1933 northeast of Pryor, Oklahoma in Mayes County, Oklahoma. He was the oldest child, and only son of Gaylord and Lorene "Frields" Norman. His father was a farmer who died young at 33, leaving Lorene with a boy and three daughters, Elizabeth Ann, Doris Jean, and Velma Sue, to raise.
Lorene remarried Gilbert Brown a few years later and two more sisters, Jane Lorene and Mary Alice, were born. The family farmed and the children attended elementary school in the Welch, Hazel and Osage school districts, then all of them attended and graduated from Pryor High School. The family added dairying to their farming operations at the time Walter began high school. The family worked long, hard hours farming, gardening, and milking cows during those years. Walter played and loved the sport of baseball, and he graduated in May, 1951.
The Korean War was in the second year in 1951. Walter enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 1, 1951. He served in the Pacific theater in Japan, Korea, and in Alaska as an airman assigned to Patrol Squadron 42. He was honorably discharged on April 24, 1954.
Walter worked four years at Douglas Aircraft Company, married Laura Sandrock, and two daughters were born to them, Ruth Ann and Betty Jeanne Norman. The marriage ended in divorce six years later. Four years later, he married the greatest love of his life, the former Betty Gossen Carlson. He became the step-father of her children, Dana Deon and Rahn William Carlson.
Walter joined the Wichita, Kansas Police Department on October 1, 1959. He served as a Patrolman, Detective, and later as a Sergeant and Lieutenant in Patrol. He retired from police work August 1, 1980. He finished Graduate School at Wichita State University, and joined the Cessna Aircraft Company, January, 1981, at Wichita, Kansas as a Senior Industrial Engineer and enjoyed a rewarding second career. Walter retired the last time on April 1, 2000, to spend his life traveling with his beloved wife, spending time with Grand-Children, and living in the Marion County Lake Community near Marion, Kansas.