Narman Reeves

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF NARMAN REEVES A.K.A. BIG BRITCHES

Narman Reeves was born April 21, 1936 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Harold and Berdena Reeves. When Narman was three months old, he, his parents and his older brother, Rodney, moved to Des Moines, Iowa where his sister, Arlene, and brothers, Jerry and Loren, were born. Narm went to Brooks Elementary School, Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, and Des Moines Technical High School. Narm said he must have been pretty hard on the schools since all of them have been torn down.

As a young boy living in east Des Moines he had many jobs. He was a water boy at the age of 12 for the construction company that was building St. Joseph’s Academy, which no longer exists. He carried coal for his neighbor’s coal furnace, raised chickens and rabbits and sold them door to door, delivered the Des Moines Sunday Register in a truck, and candled eggs at A & P for more money than butchers made at other grocery stores.

At Tech, he had taken machine shop classes and after graduating in 1954 he went to work at Fortune Laboratories. Narman quickly became the shop foreman and, at the age of 18, was supervising 43 men and women.

He started working as a machinist at John Deere in Ankeny, Iowa on July 15, 1957 and was a tool and die maker when he took early retirement in 1993 after 36 good years at Deere. (July 1993 was the year of the great flood which left most of Des Moines’ residents without water for a week.) In retirement, he worked part-time at John Deere guiding people on tours of the factory.

Narm married his sweetheart, Mary, in 1958. Shortly afterward, he was drafted into the Army where he served for two years as a machinist attached to the 82nd Airborne at Fayetteville, North Carolina. When he returned to Des Moines, he resumed working at John Deere.

He joined Auburn Masonic Lodge in 1963 and was sponsored by his father-in-law, Duane Gill. His brother, Rodney, sponsored both Narm and his father, Harold, when they joined the York Rite Bodies and Za-Ga-Zig Shrine in 1964. He is a 50-plus year member of the Masons, York Rite Bodies, Za-Ga-Zig Shrine and the Shrine Clowns. When Narm joined the Za-Ga-Zig Clown Unit on February 4, 1965, he was the thirteenth member of the unit and is the last remaining member of the original thirteen. For many years he was the youngest clown in the unit.

He was called Big Britches because of the way his original costume looked. It was a striped shirt and bow tie and a pair of bright green ankle-length pants with a three foot wide hula hoop sewn into the waistband. He had to wear suspenders to hold up his pants.

He held every office in the Clown Unit, becoming the president in 1970. At that time, almost every clown attended every function, whether they were held locally or out of town. In 1970, where were 129 functions. The unit was limited to a maximum of only 24 clowns.

He was the only one who rode a unicycle in the frequent parades and walked on six foot tall stilts at the Fairground’s racetrack. There were visits to hospitals, retirement homes, schools, fun nights, gas station grand openings, and fast food restaurant publicity. In addition, there were many official Shrine functions including the Potentates Ball at the Savory Hotel and Hotel Fort Des Moines. There were private Clown Unit parties at the Shrine’s elegant El Bon Club in downtown Des Moines. (Za-Ga-Zig sold the building which is now known as the Suites of 800 Locust.) They traveled by car or bus to Omaha for the Aksarben horse races. Many of these things are still happening in the Shrine, but many have gone by the wayside.

For a few years, Narm wrote Clown Unit news articles each month for the Feetprints Magazine. In 1996, he began writing websites from scratch, no premade programs for him! He created websites for the Union Park Neighborhood Association, Highland Park Christian Church, and one just for family. He was the webmaster of them all!

As a Shrine Hospital Dad, Narm sponsored and formed bonds with two hospital kids that lasted well beyond their initial 18 year friendship. He drove orthopedic patients and their parents to the Shrine Children’s Orthopedic Hospital in Minnesota and wore his clown costume when he went to the Hospital Dads Christmas parties.

Narm and Mary’s three sons – Larry, Bill, and Russ – grew up in clowning with Narm, going to parades, birthday parties, and school functions. They even had their own clown costumes. As their father, mother, grandfathers, and grandmothers were part of Masonry, so were Narm’s sons. Larry became a Mason and Bill and Russ were members of DeMolay. Bill went on to become the DeMolay Master Counselor. Mary was Worthy Advisor of the Rainbow Girls at Auburn Masonic Lodge and was a member of Eastern Star.

More recently, Narm had applied clown makeup to his grandkids and great-grandkids, and has gone to their schools to teach their classmates the history and importance of clowning. During the classes, he put clown faces and costumes on his granddaughter, Crystal, and great-granddaughter, Cayley, to demonstrate makeup techniques. He gave a Children’s Sermon in his clown costume at Highland Park Christian Church. Narm had the honor of being a lifelong clown, and took part in some of the regular meetings.

On March 21st, 2015, there was a ceremony honoring Narman (Big Britches) for over 50 years of service as a Za-Ga-Zig Shrine Clown. Most of his family was able to come to Des Moines for the Za-Ga-Zig Circus, where Narman would be honored. His granddaughter, Crystal, helped him put the finishing touches on his clown makeup and the whole family watched him transform from Dad and Grandpa to Big Britches. When they arrived at the Jacobson Building at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, the fourteen members of his family who were able to be there were wearing tee-shirts with a Big Britches cartoon painted on them. Narm immediately went to work signing programs for the little kids and some parents too.

The rest of the family tried to find the best possible seats in the crowd of thousands, and ended up right in front of the center ring. During intermission, the clowns from Narm’s unit gathered in the center ring and one of them invited the whole family to come be with Big Britches. Everyone walked to the circus floor and sat on the edge of the big center ring. When the audience settled down after intermission, that’s when the real show began. The Circus Ringmaster spoke first, explaining what was going to happen. The Potentate of Za-Ga-Zig called Narm forward and Buster de Clown, who knew Narm well through clowning and working with him at John Deere, praised Narm for his 50 years of clowning at circuses, parades and hospitals and for all the other great things he had done.

When the recognition of his contributions to clowning was over, the kids and parents in the crowd were applauding Big Britches as the whole clown unit rose from the edge of the ring, applauded, and stood in line to shake his hand. The pockets of Narms’ costume were stuffed with some of the almost 1,000 tee-shirts that were printed with the Big Britches cartoon picture and he threw them to the crowd, which was roaring and clapping. It was a wonderful honor for a wonderful clown and a wonderful man. Later, a Des Moines Register reporter interviewed Narm about his life as a clown. The article was printed in the Ankeny Press Citizen section of the Des Moines Register on April 21, 2015, Narm’s 79th birthday.

Other enjoyable times included skydiving, woodworking, and snowbirding in Texas. Narm enjoyed an aerobatic flight with his son, doing barrel rolls, loops, hammer heads and flying upside down. And yes, Narm even flew a helicopter. But first and foremost were his family and friends.

Narm passed away Saturday, April 25, 2020 at the age of 84. Those left to cherish his memory are his sweetheart, Mary of Ankeny; sons, Larry (Maria) of Marlbrough, MA, Bill (Deb) of Coal Valley, IL, and Russ (Monica) of Waupaca, WI; brother, Rod (Ann) of Galveston, TX; sister, Arlene Richardson of Cedar Rapids, IA; grandchildren, Crystal (Travis) Booth, Will (Alyssa) Reeves, Blake Reeves, Lorne (Rachel) Reeves, Alex (Heather) Reeves, and Becca Reeves; great-grandchildren, Cayley McBurney and Caleb McBurney, Paisley Reeves and Granger Reeves; and numerous other loving family members and friends.

Narman will be later laid to rest at Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Van Meter, Iowa. There will be a celebration of life from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Friday, August 20, 2021 at Highland Park Christian Church, 4260 NW 6th Dr, Des Moines, IA 50313.

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