Norma Ruth
Johnson Haynes entered the world in Council Bluffs, Iowa on November 6, 1924.
Her parents, Dennis and Helen Johnson, were pleased and relieved to have a
girl. Her brothers, Denny and Bob, treated her like all brothers do, but she
loved them anyway. The family moved to Salt Lake City in 1935.
Norma married Jim Haynes and spent her
life caring for Jim, three kids, several pets, a garden, and finally,
grandchildren. She was an amazing seamstress who made nearly all the clothes
her children wore, even after they became teens and begged her not to. She
worked as a teller and for the University of Utah’s Business department. Always
happy and positive, she loved telling stories. Many of these were so
inspirational that she told them over and over so that they would never be
forgotten. Indeed, her family can repeat her stories verbatim and has numbered
them for easy reference. She enjoyed traveling with her family and was able to
visit Europe, the Caribbean, and Australia, as well as many states. Her favorite
place was Hawaii. She could work a hard crossword puzzle in less than an hour
and beat the pants off of anyone in a game of cards. In later years she
insisted that twos were wild in every game she played, which allowed her to win
even more. Even so, she couldn’t seem to beat her grandson at Monopoly as he
would place hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place before she could say, “Go
directly to Jail.”
Norma
baked sinfully good cakes, cookies, and treats with her grandkids. Her
specialty was “The Cake,” a red devil’s food cake that won first place at the
Utah State Fair two years in a row. And she had the ribbons to prove it.
Norma's
life is celebrated by her two daughters and their husbands, Marianne & Rick
Norton and Julianne & Michael Paul, her 4 grandchildren and a plethora of
relatives and friends. After 89 years, Norma died the way she wanted to -
peacefully in her sleep after a short illness. She will be greatly missed.
