Norma L. Stuart

Norma Lee (Champion) Stuart died 4 February 2022, by the grace of God in her home in Altoona, Iowa. Snug in her bed, the angels called her away to greet love’s pure light and her life’s departed loves. She was 91 years old and had coped with a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis since 2004.
Norma was born during the Great Depression on 14 January 1931 at home in rural Altoona. She was the second daughter of Worth and Pearl (Pattee) Champion. She completed all grades at Altoona Independent School, at 5’4” was a basketball standout at AHS(!), and graduated with the 16 members of the Class of 1948. She pursued an education degree at Iowa State Teachers College (UNI), Cedar Falls.
She next took her freshly minted 2-year diploma and boarded a train to her first elementary school assignment in Livingston, Montana, north of Yellowstone National Park. After a couple of years “chasing cowboys,” she returned to Iowa and taught at State Center and Newton.
On 19 December 1953 she married hometown love David Stuart at Altoona Christian Church, where they had sparked at Christian Endeavor years before. After Dave completed service in the U.S. Navy, they started Stuart Gardens, commercial gladiolus growers. Together they built their own home across from Haines Park, where they brought up two sons, Scott and Steven.
Norma resumed teaching in 1968-69, on the original faculty of Altoona Centennial Elementary. For the next 22 years, she taught 4th graders with tireless energy, positivity and compassion.
In retirement, Norma and Dave tended their home garden, wintered with Altoona-area “snowbirds” in Apache Junction, Arizona, and traveled to Europe and Dave’s annual Navy ship’s reunions. She especially loved the USS Shields family, monthly Centennial retiree luncheon, and good humored fun with her “dinner club” of Altoona couples as well as treasured longtime neighborhood friends.
Norma was great-great granddaughter of Ezra and Mary Ann (Post) Champion, who reached Altoona from East Worcester, New York, on 5 August 1869, a year after the town plat was recorded. The annual Grinstead Reunion of her grandma Cora Iowa (Grinstead) Champion’s family still was a highlight of every July. To her daddy Worth Champion’s family, she was “the hostess with the mostest” at Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve gatherings in her home. She also enjoyed the Champions’ annual summer vacations at Kimp’s Kamp resort in Otter Tail Lakes Country, West-Central Minnesota.
Even more precious to Norma was her lifelong membership in Altoona Christian Church, where she was baptized on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1944. She was an elder and on the diaconate, sang in the choir, attended Christian Women’s Fellowship, taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, and always kept the faith in her church home, no matter what.
Norma was a life member of the National Education Association and the Order of the Eastern Star, and a member of the Altoona Area Historical Society.
Norma was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years (d. 2018), her parents and her beloved sister Martha Stuart. She is survived by her brother and sister-in law, John and Sarah Champion; her brother-in-law, Roy Stuart; her sister-in-law Marilyn Nuckolls; and her two sons and daughter-in-law, Susan.
Heartfelt thanks to Stanton L. Danielson, M.D., his team Jenny, Miranda and Shelley, and RN Care Coordinator Amanda Conley of UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine Altoona for excellent care, especially through these two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Monday, February 14, 2022 at Altoona Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 2890 First Ave. South, Altoona, with visitation preceding, from noon to 2. Burial at New Altoona Cemetery will follow services. To protect our community, face coverings will be required and unvaccinated individuals are discouraged from attending.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Altoona Christian Church, the Altoona Area Historical Society or Southeast Polk Dollars for Scholars.

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