Norma Marks

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Norma Jean Winters (Vetter) Marks, 93, died Friday, January 26, 2024, at the Avera Gettysburg Hospital with her family by her side. 

Funeral services are 11:00 a.m., Saturday, February 3, 2024, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Gettysburg, with Fr. Brian Simon officiating.  Family burial services will follow at Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery. Prayer service will be 7:00 p.m., Friday, February 2, 2024, at the church, with visitation one hour prior.

Norma was born October 12, 1930, in Dell Rapids, SD to Josiah Winters and Mildred Agnes Bauer. Her childhood was spent on the road, with the first stop in Sioux City, IA where at the age of five, her parents divorced. It was then on to Minneapolis, MN where her mom met and married Albert Vetter. They resided in the cities through her junior high years. Being in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Norma developed a love of fishing that lasted a lifetime.  While living there, she remembered learning of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

They moved to Creighton, NE where she started high school. Her memory of that is getting a D+ on her first sewing project - an apron. Six weeks before finishing her freshmen year the family was again on the move, this time to Gettysburg, SD where Norma graduated from high school in 1949.

From there it was on to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion where she studied art. Her subject of studies was always a favorite of her future kids as she married an Art.

Home from college for the summer, her neighborhood friend, Ginger (Marks) White invited her to the family farm to help deliver lunch to her brother, Art, who was cutting silage. His dog, Oscar, greeted her by peeing on her leg.  It was the start of a beautiful romance.

Art was drafted into the Army that winter and sent off to boot camp at Ft. Riley and then off to Korea.

With her sister Phyllis graduating from high school, it was her turn to go to college, so Norma did not return to USD and took a six-week course at Northern to earn a teaching degree. She soon got a job at the Elida Country School. She taught through the worst winter in memory and realized that this was not something she wanted to do.  Norma proposed to Art on his return to the states and they were married in Gettysburg on July 19, 1952, by Fr. Dillion in the church rectory. They lived in Colorado Springs until Art was honorably discharged for his service.   It was the only time they had to themselves as when they returned to the family farm, they inherited an uncle and the hired man with the house.  The luxuries of the farmhouse were a wind generator, gas refrigerator, and an outdoor toilet.

The family of eight children came in the years between 1953 and 1964. Cam Wal came through the area, and they were able to purchase a new stove, refrigerator, and dryer and in 1957 plumbing was added to the farmhouse.  Somewhere in between the last four kids, two more bedrooms were added to the back of the house.

Art passed away a year after their 40th wedding anniversary in June of 1993, and she continued living at the farmhouse for the rest of her life until the age of 93 years and 3 months.

She was a member of the VFW and Legion Auxiliaries, Sacred Heart Altar Society, and the M & M Extension Club. She was a Girl Scout Leader, 4-H Leader and involved with the foreign exchange program at the High School. She was instrumental in the local American Cancer Society success, and she served on the Potter County Library board for several years.

Norma was an avid reader, loved doing crossword puzzles, listening to a variety of music and she kept a journal every day. She loved to play Pinochle with her friends and looked forward to their weekly Friday card games. She had a sweet tooth and liked a glass of wine or bottle of beer once in a while. She enjoyed great food, especially if she did not have to cook it.  She was also a cat person and had many pets throughout her life.

Norma loved to travel and enjoyed seeing many places with Art before he passed and later with her girlfriends and her children. She was always ready for a road trip.  Her greatest joy was having her family together, but just for short periods of time and she made sure they took the leftovers home.

So blessed to have had her in their lives are her children: Fanny (Bobby) Clark, Ginger Hegerle, and Bill Marks, all of Gettysburg, Deb Kelly of Rapid City, Barb (Joel) Sauer of Denver, CO, Jane (Denny) Bachman of Mobridge, Carol Whitehead of Walsenberg, CO, and Becky (Jim) Simon of Lebanon; special daughter, Wanda Gershmel of Cheyenne, WY;  grandchildren: Rob, Lori, Nicole, Sammy, David, Katie, Laura, John, Topher, David, Ginger, Charlie, and Clara; nine great grandchildren; four great-great grandchildren; and sister-in-law, Ginger (Marks) White of Sioux Falls. Norma was also mom to foreign exchange students, Jane Savage of England and Bettina Peters of Germany.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Art; sister, Phyllis Flemmer; sister-in-law, Dori Smith; and sons-in law, Mike Whitehead and Dave Kelly.

Memorials may be made in Norma’s honor to the local EMTs, ATTN: GAG, 510 W Garfield Ave, Gettysburg, SD 57442, and the Potter County Library, 205 W Commercial Ave, Gettysburg, SD 57442.

Luce Funeral Home of Gettysburg has been entrusted with Norma’s arrangements.