Norma Moreno August 7, 1936 - August 19, 2024

Norma Dolores Soza Moreno
7 August 1936 – 19 August 2024

She was known to everyone as “Nana”. Her children, grand children, great grand kids, friends, neighbors and all her relatives called her their “Nana”. She wasn’t very tall, 4’11, but her smile, laugh and love of life were towering. She had style and loved clothes. She was famous for her refried beans, home made tortillas and Mexican remedies. Nana had a hand in raising nearly all of her grandkids and kids from other families too. She was a nomad, never settling down in one place very long. She was our dear, fantastic, generous and crazy Mom. She was a kind, giving and positive light in the world. So on a quiet, dark August morning, our Mother, the joy of our lives, took her last breath. She was surrounded by those who loved her. After a brave fight against lymphoma cancer, she left this life to start anew with her God, her Abba.

Norma was born in Tucson, Arizona. She was the youngest of 6 children to Albert and Dolores Soza. They were Bertha, Albert, Ben, Lydia, Richard and Norma. The family lived in Superior, Arizona for several years until the elder children enlisted in the military and Bertha moved to California to help with the War effort. Albert and Dolores split up and shortly after, Dolores died of cancer. Norma’s eldest sister, Bertha invited Norma to live with her and her new daughter, Gloria, in San Pedro, California in 1949. The apartment was small, but the living arrangement saved Norma from being sent to an orphanage in Arizona. Bertha’s husband, Alphonso Olguin, made it easy for Norma to become a part of the vast Olguin family. She lived with Bertha and Al until her high school graduation.

Norma attended San Pedro schools and graduated from San Pedro High school in 1954. She excelled in school and achieved high marks in her studies. She and her girlfriends tried out for the school cheer squad, but they were disqualified for wearing their skirts too short (just above the knee). While in high school, she met the man she would marry, our Father, Ralph (Kayo) Moreno, 4 years older than Norma.

After graduating from high school, Norma and Kayo got married on Christmas Eve, 1955 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They made their home in Wilmington, California, near the Long Beach shipping docks. As our father returned from military duty in the Navy, he began his 44-year career as a Longshoreman. At that point, Kayo and Norma started our wonderful family. First, our brother Tony was born in 1956. Then, in succession, Terri, Tami and Tina aka, “The 4 T’s”. Norma was a homemaker, mom to 4 kids, and was involved in the Gulf Avenue School PTA. She loved being part of a team of women who were concerned about the future of their kids. In Wilmington, our family lived a few blocks away from our father’s step- sister, Margie and Art, and their 4 children. We would walk to their house often to hang out with the kids and let our moms have some adult talk time. Bertha lived close by and would often task a very young Gloria to watch over the 4 kids, and sometimes more relatives too. Gloria says it was a very difficult job for a pre-teen; it was like herding cats or rounding up monkeys. She often said, “no wonder your Mom is crazy”.

We lived in Wilmington until 1967, when the entire family moved to Washington State. We packed up all our belongings and the six of us moved in one U-haul and one station wagon.We moved to a place none of us had ever seen before, but we loved it from the moment we got there. Norma, Kayo and the kids made a new home in Bellevue, Washington. By this time, Norma was able to obtain work outside the home. She worked for a dentist office, a periodontist office, a real estate developer and DHL courier service. She always started out as a receptionist or typist, but quickly moved into the office manager’s position. With 4 kids in school, she had 8 hours of time to devote to her various businesses. That’s not to say she didn’t have time to be our mom. She always made us breakfast and was home to make
dinners. She drove us to our after school practices and helped us with homework. She taught her son and daughters to cook, clean and take care of a house. Through these years, she longed to be her own boss. By the time the kids began to graduate from school, Norma had ideas about how to go about being her own boss.

In retrospect, it seems like she tried something new every year. She tried her hand at many businesses. Some of these start-ups flourished for a time, but others left her feeling unsuccessful. Nevertheless, she always wanted to try something new and never lost her ambitions. And along the way, she discovered the Messianic religion. She traveled to Israel several times to understand the teachings of the Jewish religion. She also traveled to China, London, New York, Spain and visited her kids, in the different states where they lived. She loved to travel and excelled at meeting new people. For such a small, short person, she made a huge impact wherever she went.

She divorced her husband, Kayo, after over 50 years of marriage. At that time, Nana lived with our cousin, Shannon and Billy, for several years and enjoyed living in Nampa, Idaho, Provo, Utah and Yuba City, California too. She thrived with Shannon’s family and had so much fun being herself and living her best life. She was Nana to Nolan and McKaylyn.

In her final years, she lived in Arlington, Washington. She loved living independently and dreamed of travel back to Israel. But she loved visiting our sister Tina and Leonard’s house the most. Her grand children and great grandchildren all welcomed her with their big hearts.
Nana was always invited to every party and could be counted on to dance, sing and maybe even a shot of tequila. When she learned of her lymphoma diagnosis, she prayed that she would be healed so she could live to see her great grandkids grow up and to travel to Israel
one last time. But, there just wasn’t enough time.

A celebration of Norma’s life and what she gave us as her descendants is planned for sometime in October. We miss her with all our hearts:
Tony and Rosemary Moreno, Teresa and Gregg Wagner, Tami and Chris Covey, Tina and Leonard Patricelli. Gloria Olguin and George Coffey. Shannon Hannold and Joe. Andy, Angela, Ben, Gabriel, Carmel, Marissa, Victoria, Nic, Chris, Liz, Monica, Philip, Mac, Nolan, Vanessa, Michael, Marcus and all her great grandkids, 22 in all.