Norma Jean Latimer Wells 1928 - 2024

Norma Jean Latimer was born January 1, 1928, in Maywood, Nebraska, and passed away July 27, 2024, at age 96, in Gladstone, Oregon.

When Norma was 13 years of age, her parents and their five children packed up and left Nebraska and headed to Oregon, where they set up their new home in Vernonia, followed later by a move to Forest Grove. Norma’s life in Nebraska had been very harsh and very dry, and the beautiful green of Oregon was a dream come true.

Norma attended nursing school in La Grande, Oregon, in 1946, before returning to Forest Grove, where she worked as a telephone operator. In 1949, she met and later married Edward Wells. They set up their first home in Forest Grove, later settling in McMinnville, Oregon, in 1951, where they raised their three sons, Scott, Eric, and Lee. Norma was very proud of "her boys,” and loved them deeply. She was a Cub Scout den mother, and encouraged all three boys to pursue instrumental and vocal music performance.

Norma resumed working as a telephone operator at the local McMinnville telephone exchange, where she worked for many years, and  later working as the office manager and dental assistant for Dr. Barry Lust, DDS. She concluded her professional career as office manager for Ore-Land Industries.

Norma was involved in McMinnville’s community theater group, Gallery Players of Oregon, both onstage, in such productions as “Cactus Flower” and “Plaza Suite,” among others, as well as behind the scenes in box office, wardrobe and technical production departments. An avid reader, Norma was well known for her "revolving" library of shopping bags filled with paperback books.

She enjoyed local and international travel, visiting Hawaii, an Alaska cruise, the U.S. east coast, London, Brussels, Paris, Munich, and Bavaria.

Norma always looked forward to the family gatherings hosted by her loving sister-in-law, Mary Latimer.  Mary was devoted to Norma, taking care of countless details for her during her final years while a resident of Avamere Rehabilitation in Gladstone, Oregon, whose staff said Norma was unanimously the nursing home’s “favorite patient.”

One of Norma’s very favorite events was an annual trip to the Renaissance Faire in Yuma, Arizona, as part of an annual sisters' reunion that continued until her early 90s, when she could no longer make the trip.

Norma, the oldest of seven children, was preceded in death by her brothers, Edward and Mike Latimer; and sister, Nancy Kay Morgan. She is survived by sisters, Carol Anne Lukoszyk of Gearhart, Oregon, and Betty Lou Brundage of Mesa, Arizona; and brother, Maurice “Pat” Latimer of Eugene, Oregon.  She is also survived by her three sons, Edward “Scott” Wells, of Port Orchard, Washington, Eric Eugene Wells of Laguna Beach, California, and Lee James Wells of Portland, Oregon; two granddaughters, Alexx Yathamshetti and Madison Wells; and three great-grandchildren.