Pauline Norby

Pauline Norby, 98, of Manhattan, KS, passed away peacefully, Friday, September 27th, 2019. She was a Registered Nurse for most of her career. Her last employment was as a research assistant to Dr. Robin Highman, Ph.D., in the History Department at Kansas State University. Pauline was born in Grant City, Missouri on March 1, 1921, at her grandparents’ home, Jesse Benson and Alwilda Foland Benson. Pauline was the daughter of the late Otsa and Mildred Grace (Foland) Misemer. She was the oldest of four siblings and the only girl. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Oscar in 2004 and her brothers, Kenneth (Buster), Robert (Bob), and William (Bill). She was also preceded in death by a son, Steven L. Norby on April 19, 1990, near Chico, CA. Buster and Bob also served in the Air Force in WWII. Pauline graduated from the Grant City High School in 1939 and then Kansas City General Hospital, School of Nursing in 1942. After graduation, she joined the US Navy, where she served as a Lt. (JG) during WW II. She first served at Mare Island in San Diego but was later transferred to Oahu, Hawaii. During her short stay at Mare Island, she met Oscar W. Norby from Pratt, Kansas. Mr. Norby was also in the Navy and served as a Lt. on the USS San Diego, an Atlanta-class light cruiser. He was later sent to Oahu to attend torpedo officer training for the USS San Diego. Their romance developed while they were on Oahu and shortly after their Navy separation, on April 28, 1946, in Albany, Missouri they were married. They were married for 58 years. Oscar preceded her in death on July 2, 2004. Pauline took the Honor Flight with a planeload of other WWII Vets in 2014. She said meeting and chatting with Senator Bob Dole at the WWII Memorial, was one of the highlights of her life. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, PEO and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Pauline loved Genealogy and had file cabinets full of “important” family information tracing her roots to the Netherlands. She and Oscar traveled the world and the US gathering pertinent family information. She was an avid computer geek with her Genealogy software and volunteered for years at the Genealogy Library in Manhattan. She often told the story of her childhood sleigh rides through the snow to get to their small one-room schoolhouse. They would warm up bricks and put their feet on them to keep warm during the sleigh ride. When she and Buster got older, they often rode their Shetland pony, Sparkle, to school. She had frequent earaches as a child. Her father would sit near her bed and blow warm pipe tobacco smoke in her ears to ease the pain. She often mentioned the family’s hand-crank telephone. Her family’s phone number was H-53 and of course, whenever the phone rang, everyone up and down the line would hear it and they would all listen to each other’s phone calls...sort of an early Facebook arrangement! That’s how they kept up with the neighbors. Pauline and Oscar loved to play golf with their “regular” golf group. They even traveled state to state to play golf and one of their favorite places to play was Loma Linda near Joplin, Missouri. Pauline was excited to meet and visit with Mickey Mantle of New York Yankees fame at dinner one evening and to get his autograph. Pauline had two holes in one over her golfing career, something that always made her kids and grandkids jealous. Pauline also loved her children and grandchildren and she loved K-State sports of all kinds. Tailgating at KSU football games was always exciting and even better if the children and grandchildren were in town for a big game. She and Oscar maintained their own season tickets for KSU football and basketball for nearly 40 years. Pauline is survived by a daughter, Marcia Ann (Peter) Matteo, of Eatontown, New Jersey; a son, Galen Norby, of Wichita; brother-in-law Dr. Marvin A. Norby of Sioux City, Iowa; two granddaughters, Nichole Dean (Ken) of West Islip, NY and Michelle Straus (Dr. Alex) of Moorestown, NJ; two grandsons, Geoffrey Norby (Katie) of Ft. Collins, CO and Jacob Norby of Overland Park KS; four great-grandchildren, Kaitlyn Dean and Emily Dean; Bradley Straus, Matthew Straus, Gavin O. Norby, and Lauren E. Norby. ” Truly one of the Greatest Generation “ The family will receive friends on Monday evening, September 30th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Carlson's Irvin-Parkview Funeral Home & Cremation in Manhattan, KS. Burial with Naval Military Honors will take place at Sunrise Cemetery at 12:00 PM on Tuesday, October 1st and will be followed by a "Service of Remembrance" at 1:00 PM on Tuesday afternoon, October 1st at the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community in Manhattan. The family requests any donations be directed to the Kansas 4H Foundation; Alzheimer's Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL or the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community, 2121 Meadowlark Rd. Manhattan, KS.