Norm's Jokes

Before I tell this story, if any readers recall any jokes or stories of Norm, I would love to hear them. My email is nomarmuilenburg@frontier.com

When we were raising the kids and money was tight, I always tried to be economical and get my money's worth out of things so, I would take the small pieces of soap leftovers to the kitchen and use them to wash my hands. I always had several small pieces in the soap dish. One day, I was trying to get lather from this one piece of soap and it just would not lather. On further inspection, I realized that it was a piece of CHEESE that Norm had put in my soap dish. He could not even remember when he had put it there, so he was just biding his time before I finally discovered it. We laughed about this many times over the years.

The New Year

The middle of February was always the start of the New Year for Norm because that was when pitchers and catchers reported to spring training. He was happy because there was baseball news everyday in the newspaper and on TV.

We were lucky enough last year to go to Arizona and visit the Nealys who are Minnesota friends who have a place in Mesa. I am so grateful to them for having us and driving long distances three days in a row so that Norm could see his beloved Dodgers.

Olio

On Wed. morning after Norm passed away, I awoke to the sound of him moaning. I was amazed but found it not upsetting. Then Fri. morning, I awoke to him calling my name. Again, not upsetting. I spoke of this to quite a few friends at his service and found that many people have had this experience. Again, the mystery of it all!

Does anyone who was at Norm's service remember the title of the poem by Henry Van Dyke? I gave my copy to Tom, the Kaiser chaplain.

The Oregonian gives free small obituaries but would anyone believe that Norm's obituary and photo appearing just one day would be more expensive than his cremation? Again, the mystery of it all.

Thank You

I want to thank everyone who has been with us through this past 15 months. We appreciated all your prayers, cards, meals, visits, shopping trips and offers of help and support.

Norm's co-workers at Drug Information met us just about every month for lunch or dinner while he was able to get out. He really looked forward to those meals, to talk "shop".

A special thanks to Pat and Carl, Vergenia and John and Judy whom I can never repay, if I live to be 100.

I have to thank my nursing career because even though I never wanted to be a nurse, I don't know if I could have kept Norm home until the end without that experience and confidence that I could do it. The Kaiser hospice team was there with us every step of the way and I knew that their help was just a phone call away.

Our family was so pleased with the service. It was a beautiful day and Norm would have been so touched by the wonderful turnout and sense of community.

Norman Dale Muilenburg

Norman Dale Muilenburg was born Aug. 11, 1943 in Pipestone, Minnesota to Elmer and Frieda Muilenburg. He attended South Dakota State University and graduated with a BS in Pharmacy in 1966. He entered Peace Corps training for Ethiopia in 1967 and met his wife, Margie. He served in Addis Ababa as a pharmacy instructor until June 1969. On returning to the States, they lived in Minnesota for four years before moving to Portland in 1973.

Norm was a pharmacist’s pharmacist in his role in Drug Information at Kaiser for the past twenty years. He also worked at Good Samaritan and St. Vincent’s hospitals. In 1979, he was recognized as Oregon Hospital Pharmacist of the Year.

Norm and Margie are the parents of Andrew and Peter. They delighted in their daughters-in –law, Ali and Tracy, and grandchildren, Brady, Lucy, Drew, Sofie and soon to be, Emma.
Norm was known for his wit, his love of sports, especially baseball and especially the Dodgers, his love of travel and his love of Larue. He will be missed not only by his immediate family but also by his sisters and their families, Marilyn and Stuart Wilson and Myrna and Koos Kryger, three nephews and niece, mother-in-law Mary Beth Powers, dear friends John and Judy Jendrzejewski, along with a host of colleagues, neighbors and friends.

Donations may be made to Friends of the National Library of Medicine, 7900 Wisconsin Ave. NW Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814 or to Kaiser Hospice, 2701 NW Vaughn St., Ste 140, Portland, OR 97210.

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19th at The Stockpot Broiler, 8200 SW Scholls Ferry RD, Beaverton, OR 97008.

(The obituary will be published in Wednesday's Oregonian - and also on www.oregonlive.com)

Valentine's Day

It started on Thanksgiving 2009 and ended Valentine's Day 2011. Norm passed away this morning around 9:15. Even though I knew it was coming, it is surreal and hard to believe. The hospice people at Kaiser were all great and I can't thank them enough. Everyones prayers really were answered in that he had no pain really, just discomfort the last week from the bed rest. We will have a celebration of life on Sat. Feb. 19th at 11 am at the Stockpot 8200 Sw Scholls Ferry Rd. Beaverton.

Prejudice

In Memphis at the time, a black person could take a seat on public transportation, but only if the seat was vacant. If a white person was seated on the inside, a black person could not sit on the outside seat. So there could be a bus with half the seats open and all the black passengers standing.

I remember riding the bus with our relatives and being aware of this and feeling so uncomfortable and wanting to get off the bus.

Happy Birthday, Abe

Today, Feb. 12th is Lincoln's birthday. It was also my grandmother's birthday. She was born Margaret Elizabeth Gallagher in 1900 or 1901, depending on how old she wanted to be when asked . She was one of eight children. One brother died in the Influenza epidemic of WW1 and another at birth. Mimi( my name for her) always said her mother never got over the baby's death. She outlived all of her brothers and sisters, which amazed her, as she said she was always sickly as a child. She grew up in the Roaring Twenties and was a flapper and went to speak easies. She married in 1921 and gave birth to one daughter, Mary Beth, my mother, in 1923.

Mimi was a character- nosy- getting the dirt on everyone, loved reading fan magazines. She also was very generous- would give you the shirt off her back. She loved connecting people with common needs. More on this later...

A typical story: We went to Memphis, Tennessee with my great aunt, Kay, taking the Greyhound bus. Children under four were free but I was six and quite tall. I was absolutely mortified as we got on the bus and the driver said to my grandmother " How old is she?" She nudged me ahead and didn't bat an eye declaring that I was four. Next time ..more of the Memphis trip.

The Norman Muilenburg School of Gardening

As spring approaches and crocus and daffodils poke their heads up, I can't help but think of Norm with his gardening hat on. (As an aside, had Norm and I not had children, I doubt that we would have had a house or a yard. )

He did yard work reluctantly, never planting anything new, basically just beating down what was already here. Once, he ripped out a juniper that was in a line of other junipers, not caring that now there was just a big hole where there should have been something.

I never trusted him to prune when I wasn't home.

Our neighbor of many years, Virginia Steenson, was a gardener and when the kids were here playing ball, she didn't care for their balls coming into her yard crushing her tender plants. She planted Arbor Vitae on both her front yard borders. After she passed away, her daughter and son-in-law moved in. One day when I was working and Norm was off, I came home to find the BOTTOM 2 feet of Arbor Vitae branches sawed off. " Norm, what have you done? Those aren't ours," I said. He answered, " I just got carried away." He said the same thing to Paul, the son-in-law when questioned about the event. I think he took all his frustrations out on the yard.

FYI

Norm has always wanted to be an anatomical donor. I found out today that because of his cancer only his corneas could be transplanted. He would not be eligible to be a tissue or organ donor. Two people, however, could each get one of his corneas and have their sight restored.

Our Anniversary Photo

Norm, in spite of having cancer and being on hospice, still looks better than me. He always did and he always will.

Marge & Norm (Andy too)

 

 

Areas of Expertise

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I think that everyone has areas of expertise. I always said that Norm's areas were pharmacy and sports- baseball in particular. My areas were everything else! Not really - I have HUGE blank areas- especially regarding music, many practical things like cars and house construction and maintenance, gardening, crafts, shopping, fashion, makeup etc., etc. etc.. I always count on friends who have knowledge in these and other areas to bail me out. I do not need to reinvent the wheel myself. The wheel is there - I just need to ask the person turning it for help.

The other part of this is the " You can't beat a man at his job". In other words it always made more sense to Norm and me to hire something done by a pro rather than for us to kill ourselves (and each other- remember, painting the room), buying tools we may never need again, for a job that would take Norm all weekend but a pro 1-2 hours. The same reason you would ask Norm a drug question rather than your plumber.

41st Anniversary

How can I possibly describe 41 years of BLISS! Actually Sunday is our anniversary but since it's Super Bowl day, we wanted our own special day. Under normal circumstances we would be at the beach to celebrate but we just had a toast with a bottle of Cabernet that I've been saving for a special occasion and this is it. We wanted to thank everyone for all their prayers and good wishes. We appreciate every one. Andy had a break from school and was able to visit Tues. evening. He did all the little jobs I save for him( being the handiest in the family- which we credit to Elmer(Norm's dad) - we know for sure it didn't come from my side!!!) and Pete ,Tracy and the girls will be up this evening for dinner. 41 years is a time for reflection - in every relationship there is good, bad and indifferent - but I felt it was always -US- we were a unit- certainly agreeing on the major issues of the day and philosophy. Our problems were more mundane- the car- how to LOAD the DISHWASHER- how to get from A to B. Our solution was a absolute division of labor. We each had our areas of expertise ... more on this later.

The Mystery of It All

When Norm and I had children and were looking for another voice to echo moral principles we visited several churches. One of them was the Unitarian church in both St. Paul and Portland. When confronted with the probing questions of the day, the Unitarian response was " It's the mystery of it all". I loved that phrase and have used it my whole life to explain the unexplainable. ... So I think that I have answered my question of yesterday of " Where are all the blog comments?" " It's the mystery of it all!"

If any one would like to send us a comment, please use our email- nomarmuilenburg@frontier.com