03/07/07 - NNHS Newsletter - JoAnn Norman Ivey JoAnn Norman Ivey (8 May 1941 - 6 Mar 2007) Queen of the Newport News High School Class of 1959

Dear Friends and Schoolmates,   

   Incredibly, we have even more sad news today.

  From Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 03/06/07 - "RE: NNHS Class of '57 - FYI - More Bad News":

More sad news.   JoAnn Norman Ivey passed away today. She was married to    Frank Wayne Ivey ('59) of VA, and JoAnn was also a graduate of NNHS.
 

Her sister,  Kitty Norman Haskins ('57 - of VA) just lost her husband this week.
 

   Oh, Joe, I am so shocked and saddened to learn this!  JoAnn and Frank are so closely connected to so very many of our Typhoon family!  They were King and Queen of their Senior Class of 1959. 

		Jo Ann was also one the the "Dawn Lovelies", because, of course, that's what she was: http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/dawn.html    Frank is the older brother of    Dennis Ivey ('65) of VA.  Dennis' wife is the former   Merle Sammons ('66), baby sister of Wilroy Sammons ('63?) and    Joan Sammons Bement (Queen of the NNHS Class of 1960).  It keeps cascading and spiraling from there, touching so many lives.
Queen JoAnn Norman and King Frank Ivey
1959 Anchor, p. 114

    As painful as this news is, thank you so much for passing it along to us, Joe.

  From Pat Beck Letzinger ('57) of VA to the Members of the Class of 1957 - 03/06/07 - "NNHS Class of '57 - FYI - More Bad News":

Dear Classmates:

    

    I guess it's true when they say, "when it rains, it pours."  

 

    I received a phone call from Maxine Petty Ramey informing me that  Kitty Norman Haskins' ('57)  sister,    JoAnn Ivey, passed away today.....

 

    Please try to give Kitty a call or send a card.  I don't have any further details about her sister's funeral. 

You can probably read about it in the newspaper.

 

    Sorry to send so much bad news.

 

Typhoon regards,

Pat Beck Letzinger

   Thank you, Pat.

From the Daily Press - 03/08/07:  

		JoAnn Norman Ivey GLOUCESTER - JoAnn Norman Ivey, 65, passed away on Tuesday, March 6, 2007, after a long and very courageous battle with cancer. A native of Creswell, N.C., she had been a resident of Newport News most of her life prior to relocating to Gloucester where she has lived for the past 25 years. Mrs. Ivey had retired from the Newport News Shipbuilding Employees Credit Union where she held the position of Vice President for Human Resources. She was a member of the CUNA Human Resources Council and served as a director for the Garland K. Keeling Memorial Scholarship Committee. She was preceded in death by her parents, Romley Ervin and Rosanna Watkins Norman; her father and mother-in-law, Joel C. and Grace Irene Ivey; and her brother-in-law, George Thomas Haskins Sr. Mrs. Ivey is survived by her husband, Frank W. Ivey; her daughter, Tracie I. Larkin and her husband, Michael Larkin, of Gloucester; her sister, Kitty Norman Haskins of Gloucester; her grandchildren, William 'Billy' Martin III and Lauren Grace Martin; her brother-in-law, Dennis W. Ivey Sr. and his wife, Merle S. Ivey; two nieces and two nephews. A private celebration of JoAnn's life will be held at a later date. Peninsula Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Published in the Daily Press on 3/8/2007.  Guest Book
JoAnn Norman
Fall of 1958

   Our deepest sympathies are extended to all the family and friends of the Norman and Ivey families whose lives this has touched so deeply.

   This information is also recorded here:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/memoriam-all.html

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/memoriam59.html

  From Renee Helterbran Benton ('59) of VA - 03/13/07 - "Celebration of life for JoAnn Norman Ivey":

I received a call last night from Tracie Larkin,    JoAnn and    Frank Ivey's daughter.  She wanted to get the word out about the celebration of JoAnn's life the family has planned for Thursday at the Point Plaza hotel at 7 pm.  At JoAnn's request the family is having this celebration in lieu of a public funeral.  She's hoping all who knew JoAnn will come. 

 

The Point Plaza is located at I-64 and Route 17 in Newport News and has been the location of several reunion get-togethers. 

 

Tracie was contacting    Carol Buckley Harty ('65 - of NC) last night to put this in the newsletter, but I haven't seen an issue yet this morning.

 

Renee Helterbran Benton

   Thank you so much, Renee.  I somehow missed the phone call last night, even though we were home.  I checked the messages on the answering machine this morning, but found no such message there either.  We certainly want to spread this word, though, so y'all may wish to continue phoning and emailing JoAnn's friends so they can attend this celebration.

From Tracie Ivey Larkin of VA - 03/13/07 - "Invitation to JoAnn Ivey's Celebration of Life Ceremony":

Dear All,

I can not find the words to thank you all enough for the support and caring you have shown during this very difficult time.  Please know that your kindnesses have made all of the difference.  Because my uncle’s death occurred so closely to my mother’s, we decided to delay mom’s memorial service until this week so that we could give Uncle Tommy the respect and grieving that he so well deserved.  Mom made us promise that we would NOT have a sad funeral for her.  She said that she had lived a wonderful and happy life and wanted to be remembered with smiles instead of tears.  Mom has always had a strong Christian faith, and believed with all of her heart that she was going home to be with God and other loved ones who have already passed.  She fought hard and lived well.  I am proud to call her my mother and I thank God that he allowed me to have her for 44 years. 

I would like to invite you all to my mother’s Celebration of Life Service, which will be held this Thursday evening at 7 pm at the Point Plaza Hotel in the Chesapeake Ballroom. This facility is located at 950 J. Clyde Morris Blvd., Newport News, VA.  (It is the old Ramada Inn.)  While this may seem to be an odd place to hold a memorial service, please trust that I do believe Mom would be honored to have her life celebrated at this location.  As the Human Resources person for many, many years at her beloved Credit Union, she was responsible for putting on their huge Christmas party, as well as many other corporate functions, for many years.  For about 20 of those years, she dealt mainly with, what is now, the Point Plaza hotel.  Also, the minister that I grew up with is now retired, and does not have access to a church building.  Dad and I had many calls in to the Mariners' Museum, James River Country Club, the Fine Arts Center, etc. but after about a hundred phone calls from her friends who requested that we have it where they remember her laughing and dancing often, we consented.  At that point, the managerial staff contacted us to let us know that they would be honored to host Mom’s celebration ceremony and offered it as their present to Mom’s memory.  We now feel extremely honored to hold the ceremony in this place where Mom enjoyed her friends, and they enjoyed her.  We have also been blessed that the company from which she retired has offered to do much of the legwork and phone calling to get all of this together.  I truly do not know what I would have done without the love and support of her “other” family at the Newport News Shipbuilding Credit Union.  However, what would you expect from an organization headed by CEO George Dudley?  It’s Brenda Martin’s brother, and he houses Brenda’s same tender, caring heart-only he may be even MORE sentimental! (Right, Brenda!?!)

Since we were unsure of the date of her Celebration of Life when we had to submit Mom’s obituary to the Daily Press, it will be more difficult to spread the word about the details of the service.  If you know of anyone who knew my mother, please, please help me spread the word and tell anyone who may be interested in attending her service of the details.  Everyone is invited.  There should be plenty of room, and light refreshments with coffee and tea will be served.  Many people have asked to share a memory of Mom, and before our minister closes the memorial, anyone else who would like to speak will be invited to do so. 

Again, thank you all for your care and support,

Tracie Ivey Larkin

Directions: From Gloucester and York County: Take 17 South to Traverse Road (all the way until just before the exit ramp for Interstate 64.)  The hotel will be on your left.  There will be parking at the hotel, although overflow parking can be found at the neighboring shopping center to the north.  The entrance to the Chesapeake Ballroom is located on the northern side of the building, separate from the main lobby entrance.  The hotel is about 1 mile before the entrance to City Center at Oyster Point.  

From JoAnn's Memorial Service - 03/15/07:

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

- I Corinthians 13: 1-13 (New International Version)

 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

- Revelation 21: 3-4 (King James Version)

"We had more fun than money."

   - Frank Ivey

  Y'all take good care of each other!  TYPHOONS FOREVER!

                          Love to all, Carol

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NNHS CLASS OF '65 WEB SITE: http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com

PERSONAL WEB SITE: http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/cluckmeat

==============================================

Carol Buckley Harty
219 Four Ply Lane
Fayetteville, NC 29311-9305
910-488-9408

Sometime, Somewhere

Words by Ophelia G. Adams
Music by Charles D. Tillman
 

Unanswered yet? The prayer lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail, is hope departing,
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;
You shall have your desire, sometime, somewhere,
You shall have your desire, sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? Tho' when you first presented
This one petition at the Father's throne,
It seemed you could not wait the time of asking,
So urgent was your heart to make it known.
Tho' years have passed since then, do not despair;
The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere,
The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done,
The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what he has begun
If you will keep the incense burning there;
His glory you shall see, sometime, somewhere,
His glory you shall see, sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered;
Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storm prayer stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock;
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, "It shall be done, sometime, somewhere,"
And cries, "It shall be done, sometime, somewhere."

"Sometime, Somewhere" midi (sequenced by Brian M. Ames, copyright © 1999) and lyrics courtesy
of http://junior.apk.net/~bmames/ht0154_.htm - 10/03/05

Greg Olsen Paintings courtesy of http://gregolsengallery.com – 03/15/05

Blackwork Flowers Divider Line clip art courtesy of http://www.bravenet.com - 08/12/04

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