Obituary of Norma June Payton

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

                                        Joyce Kilmer

Norma June (Gregory) Payton died November 30, 2022.  She was in her 96th year. Norma was predeceased by her parents Ernie and Hazel Gregory, her husband Jack Payton, and her sisters Doris (Alex) Hewitt and Marilyn (Pat) Schaefer.  She is survived by her brother Richard Gregory and his wife Gayle.  Also survived and loved by her three children, Mike, Paula (Lorne) Ross, and Pat (Laura), granddaughter Melissa Comyn (John), and great grandchildren Stuart, Liam (who died in 2020), Sean (Page), and great great granddaughter Ivy. She will be missed by many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

A family service will be held in early summer.

Norma was born in Detroit, Michigan, on December 27, 1926. The family returned from the US when she was five years old and lived just outside Harrington, where Norma attended school.

Once Norma and Jack Payton met there was to be no other suitor for either.   They married September 24, 1948, and enjoyed a unique partnership in the home and the workplace.  Jack and Norma made canoes and sailboats in the shop they built on Cain Street, working side by side, for over 30 years. In leisure, they enjoyed many holidays canoeing, fishing, and camping up north.

Norma loved her family best, but also, nature, gardening, and, of course, animals.

Norma was a remarkable woman.  Beautiful, smart, warm, talented, kind, unassuming, empathetic, hardworking, compassionate, unique, nurturing, and wise. 

She is, quite simply, irreplaceable.

Godspeed Norma, to the lovely shade of a beautiful tree in heaven. Jack is there waiting for you.
 

Memorial donations could be made to the Stratford Perth Humane Society.