Eldro Normen Anderson was born August 21, 1924 to Gustav and Katherine Margaret Blum Anderson. Normen was the youngest member of the Anderson family and was greeted by an older sister and two older brothers.
It is very fitting that Normen was born at the family farm east of Petersburg, Nebraska. No one knew it then, but Normen's entire life would revolve around that farm. It was if God had found a perfect match: 160 beautiful acres and a caretaker who loved them with all his heart and soul.
Normen's childhood was much like that of any farm kid in those days. Plenty of chores, for sure, but plenty of time left too for exploring each nook and cranny of the farm - from hay fields to barns and more. There were plenty of hugs from mother Katie. Work projects with father Gus. And fun times with Velda, Andy and Marvin.
Normen's grade school days were spent at the District 73 school, a single room schoolhouse not too far south of the family farm. His first two years of high school were completed at the District 57 school and his junior and senior years at Platte Valley Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist parochial school in Shelton, Nebraska. There Normen was dubbed Pinky, a nickname he would long cherish. There he also made many friends, including a life-long friendship with Charles Russell. It was a friendship that would provide big benefits in just a few years. When Normen graduated in 1942, the United States was fully engaged in World War II. Normen's brothers were already at war and Normen assumed that he would soon join them. Sure enough, a summons for the pre-induction physical arrived and Normen joined other youth from America's heartland for the trek to Leavenworth, Kansas.
But America decided what God knew. Normen belonged on the family farm. While Andy served in Europe and Marvin in the Pacific, Normen served at home plowing fields, planting and harvesting crops. Keeping America strong at home so her troops could remain strong abroad.
For many years following, Normen farmed side-by-side with his father and ultimately became the third generation owner of the farm that the family had obtained from the Burlington railroad in 1893.
Sadness arrived in Normen's life in 1947 when his beloved mother Katie died, stolen away by cancer. And for the next 15 years, the two men lived at the farm alone.
It's probably safe to guess that many folk who know this quiet, shy- appearing young man had determined that he was a confirmed bachelor. But in the fall of 1961, he was about to prove them wrong.
Normen was in Colorado the week before Thanksgiving visiting his friend Charles. Charles was calling on Mrs. Russell to be at the time and decided that Pinky needed a date too during his visit, so he introduced him to Alice Surdahl, a young nurse from Montana who had recently started working at the hospital in Denver where Charles worked.
Normen would later tell Alice that he somehow knew in his heart the night Charles introduced them that she was going to be his wife. Alice was also deeply attracted but when Normen didn't ask for an address, or if he could write, or if there was to ever be any more contact, she had to figure out a way to let him know she cared. As he left the next morning to return to Nebraska, Normen drove Alice to her work at Porter Hospital. As she got out of the car she handed him a slip of paper with her address and told him to write and let her know he got home okay. He was more than okay! And very focused on getting back to Colorado quickly. New Years weekend Normen called on Alice in Denver and the two couples came back to Nebraska, spending time with Alice's brothers and families in Lincoln and Omaha.
In February, it was Alice's turn to visit Normen at the farm. She was impressed to see how well he and his dad kept the house and farm. Once again, Alice took Normen to visit her brothers for that all important seal of approval.
A few weeks later, Normen headed to Denver again, this time with a real purpose. On April 8 Normen asked for Alice's hand in marriage and received a definite Yes in reply.
In May, the couple went to Montana to meet her mother and other family. In June, Normen was off to Denver for Charles' wedding and in August he boarded a train to Bozeman, Montana for his own - on August 26, 1962. There were no lengthy letters, there was no phone at the Anderson farm for even short calls, yet this short-term courtship turned into a life-long love affair. Normen and Alice missed celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary by just six days.
Now if you thought the Anderson farm was a special place for Normen before the wedding, you should have seen it afterwards.
Normen soon deemed that his new bride deserved new digs. The first addition was indoor plumbing, perhaps inspired by Alice's requirement that Normen accompany her on every trip to the outhouse to fend off a screech owl that had claimed residence there. Next came a basement below the house, which was no small task, followed by a two-room addition to the north side of the house.
It was the fourth addition, however, that added the most change and Alice actually did the most work. This little bundle of joy which they named Joelyn but called JoJo arrive on February 18, 1965. Milan would arrive just two years and a day later and a wonderful, memory filled journey began for this family of four.
Normen loved spending time with his family. A Fourth of July never passed without them swimming in Yankton or wading in Beaver Creek. Farm projects were family projects. Many a neighbor saw JoJo or Milan herding Normen's cows along the sides of nearby roads. Or saw the foursome load alfalfa hay. But it wasn't just about work. These times together were his treasures. And often, he was the lead kid in the parade.
Take Christmases for example. No one loved Christmas at the farm more than Normen. While the kids may have resolved that no gifts would be allowed to be opened before Christmas morning, Normen wasn't willing to give up. He'd prod, plead and beg until everyone
agreed that opening just one gift each wouldn't mess up the fun the next morning.
Vacations were another example. Normen would start preparing weeks in advance and would be so excited about leaving that he could hardly sleep the night before. Sometime he'd have the family sleep in the truck at the farm so they could leave as soon as he woke up... be it four, five or even three in the morning. He loved life, and it loved him back. Some of his favorite trips included destinations such as Washington, D.C., the Florida Keys, Maui and Norway. Yet no matter how far he traveled, or how beautiful the sight, there was no sight he'd rather see than cows and crops on the beautiful rolling hills of his farm. Every evening Normen would pause to watch the sun set over his farm. Sometimes from the western door of his milk barn. Sometimes from the 20 acres of never-plowed prairie that he was so proud to protect on his farm. It was almost like the sun's setting was his daily sign that all was at peace. That all was well with his soul.
It wouldn't be a complete picture of Normen if we didn't also talk about his cows. From his childhood to the day he shut down his dairy in 1996, Normen's morning and evenings were filled with milking, feeding and generally pampering his cows. Every one of them had a special name. And watching him bottle feed a calf would tell you a lot about Normen. The extra scratch behind the ears, the gentle rub of the neck showed off the same kind and gentle man his wife and kids always loved. Normen's cows weren't just his job... they were like his fellow sojourners on his treasured farm.
There were dogs too. Peanuts, Duke, Bimbo, Oscar. All loved. Normen used to smile in delight as he watch Bimbo chase mice or Oscar climb a ladder onto the roof of the house.
He smiled a lot while he was with people too. While Normen was a man of few words, he truly enjoyed the company of people. He loved watching his children bring friends home to the farm. He laughed as the city kids tiptoed around the barnyard. He smiled as they played games and enjoyed his home-grown popcorn. And while his words were few, they were powerful, treasured and learned from. Like the time Norman and Milan were loading steers for sale. A steer kicked back hard, barely missing Milan. Milan let out a string strong enough to singe the surrounding grass and then expected a deserved lecture about watching his tongue. Instead, Normen just paused and said, "I guess we'd better be more careful next time." Point taken, Daddy.
That story is also a good example of Normen's blessing to so many around him. He was never a preacher but always a sermon. No day passed at the Anderson farm without family prayers being said. No crop needed harvested so badly that he couldn't pause to honor God for a full Sabbath day. No business deal was so important that honesty and integrity wouldn't come first. Whether at the Albion Seventh-day Adventist Church where Normen served as an elder throughout his life, or with his family or neighbors, Normen's faith was always quietly on display. Simply put, he was a man well prepared for this day.
In January of 2000 Normen experienced the first of many strokes. That event and the medical challenges that followed progressively changed the quiet, kind husband, daddy, gramps and friend from the man everyone knew into a talkative, and sometimes harsh individual. Yet while he was loved throughout his life, never was Normen loved more than through these difficult years, especially by his wife Alice. For those who knew him knew what the stroke had caused was not from his heart.
Why the final chapter of Normen's life had to be written the way it was, no one will probably understand. It's easy to feel robbed. Cheated. And to wonder why so many prayers for this man of God have seemed to fall on deaf ears.
But Normen's life, his oneness with his farm, would seem to tell us to accept these things. His planting the seed in springtime would remind us of first life. His combining the field that there is a harvest, an end to each season. And his planting again the next season, that new life will spring forth again.
The Bible promises that God has new bodies waiting for his children in heaven. Surely he has a special one for Normen.
Normen is survived by his wife Alice of Albion, Nebraska; daughter Joelyn and son-in-law Stephen Tucker of Shawnee, Kansas; son Milan Anderson of Lincoln, Nebraska; granddaughter Katie Tucker who is named after his mother and granddaughter Kristi Tucker of Shawnee, Kansas; brother Marvin and sister-in-law Helen Anderson of Gentry, Arkansas; sister Velda Nelson of Portland, Oregon; eight nieces; He was preceded in death by parents, brother Delmar and sister-in- law Rose Anderson of Canton, Illinois; an infant nephew, and a brother-in-law Kenneth Nelson.