NORMA JEAN MUNYON
Norma Jean Munyon, daughter of Charlie Franklin and Helen Elizabeth (South) Reed, was born May 5, 1934 in Decatur county, Iowa. Norma graduated from Kellerton high school in 1952. She was united in marriage to Chester V. Munyon on February 14, 1954 in Kellerton, Iowa. They lived in Del Rio, Texas for 32 months before returning to Kellerton after Chet’s discharge from the service. While in Texas, a son, Terry, was born in 1955. After their return to Iowa, another son, Rodney, was born, in 1956. In 1961 Chet and Norma purchased and operated the now fourth generation family business, the Kellerton Hardware. In 1984 they built a new building and added in the Munyon Mini Mart. Norma also worked for Arlen Hughes for 17 years during the tax season.
To describe Norma as a loving wife, mother and grandmother would be an understatement. She read to her boys every day when they were young, later doing the same for her grandchildren. She always held hands with Chet wherever they went. After their retirement from the family business, they traveled the United States painting McDonald playground equipment. She loved to travel and they have been in every state except Hawaii. They have also traveled to Mexico and have been to all of the Canadian providences. They rode motorcycles with their relatives in the ‘Family Affair’ motorcycle club. Norma and Chet went south to Arizona from 1975 to 2006.
Norma loved to cook and the grandkids will always remember her Sunday morning waffles, fruit cocktail and powdered sugar breakfast with corn syrup on top! She loved to sew and sing. Norma was always singing to herself or those close by. Norma and the family camped at the Iowa State Fair for many years. They purchased a lot at Sun Valley Lake before there was water and spent many wonderful years there camping and having hog roasts. Any Sunday dinner would find family members gathered around her table. Her home was always open to family and friends. Her nephew, Kent Reed, spent eight summers in the Munyon home. In 1973 they hosted a foreign exchange student, Pedro Gallardo Muchado, from Brazil. Norma was known as Aunt Nornie to numerous nieces, nephews and local children.
Norma passed away on September 16, 2012. She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother and his wife, Harold and Mary Jane Reed; and a sister and her husband, Lucille and Kenneth Mickael.
Those left to cherish her memory include her loving husband, Chet Munyon of Kellerton, Iowa; sons, Terry Munyon and wife Debbie of Kellerton, Iowa and Rodney Munyon and wife Leeanne of Mesa, Arizona; grandchildren, PJ West and husband Mathew of Kellerton, Iowa, Matthew Munyon of Kellerton, Iowa, Mandy Munyon of Mesa, Arizona and Sara Bautz and husband Brett of Granite Canyon, Wyoming; great-grandchildren, Olivia and Sophia West of Kellerton, Iowa; two brothers, Leslie Reed and wife Angela of Apache Junction, Arizona and Lloyd Reed and wife Carol of Des Moines, Iowa; one aunt, Sylvia Hall of Decatur, Iowa, and numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
A memorial fund has been established to Alzheimer’s Association.
Services were conducted at Watson-Armstrong Funeral Home in Mount Ayr on Thursday, September 20, 2012, with Rev. Skip Rushing officiating. Musical selections included ‘Daddy’s Hands’ and ‘Will The Circle Be Unbroken.’
Honorary pallbearers included Mandy Munyon, Matthew Munyon, Sara Bautz, Brett Bautz, PJ West and Mathew West.
A private burial was held in the Munyon Cemetery in Grand River, Iowa
