Norma Reynolds

Norma Adeline Reynolds, 95, died Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015, at Hawkeye Care Center in Marshalltown, under the care of Iowa River Hospice. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21 at the Mitchell Family Funeral Home. A funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 22 at the First United Church of Christ. Internment will take place at St. John’s United Church of Christ cemetery, southwest of Haverhill. Memorials may be directed to First United Church of Christ, Marshalltown Public Library and the Marshalltown Animal Rescue League.

Norma was born on April 23, 1920, at home on the family farm. She was the third child of Edward Henry and Martha Anna (Freiberg) Bollhoefer. She was baptized June 13, 1920, and confirmed in 1934 at what was then St. John’s Evangelical and Reformed Church in rural Haverhill.

She attended Van Cleve Consolidated School through the 12th grade, graduating as class valedictorian in 1937. She was awarded a four-year tuition scholarship in the secondary teaching program at the Iowa State Teachers College, graduating in 1941. She earned a master’s degree of teaching arts from the University of Tulsa in 1957. In 1967, she earned a master’s degree in library science from the University of Oklahoma.

She taught a variety of combinations of junior high and senior high in the areas of language arts, speech as well as directing plays for grades 7-12 in the following schools: Iowa Falls, Tippecanoe, Ind., and Tulsa, Okla. She later became a curriculum specialist with AEA. She was a 50-year plus member of Delta Kappa Gamma and was active in educational organizations wherever she lived.

Norma married Herbert Tracy Barnes in 1944, who passed away in 1953. She married Walker Dobson in 1959, and that marriage ended in divorce. In 1976, she married Glenn Zellnor Reynolds who died in 1987.

Norma is survived by three stepsons, Glenn and Pat Reynolds II of Skatook, Okla., John and Ritchie Reynolds of Georgetown, Texas, and Gilbert (Butch) Reynolds of Neosho, Mo.; sister, Laura Hinthorne of Redmond, Wash.; sister-in-law, Alta (Hansen) Bollhoefer of Marshalltown; 11 nieces and nephews, Bonita (Harrington) and Walden Paige of Marshalltown, Donna (Bollhoefer) and Phillip Walker of The Villages, Fla., Paul and Diane (Brown) Harrington of Mt. Vernon, Jeannie (Bollhoefer) and Michael La Velle of Phoenix, Ariz., Janice (Bollhoefer) and Jeffrey Howes of Sun Valley, Idaho, John and Pamela (Huehn) Harrington of Haverhill, Mark and Barbera (Thayer) Hinthorne of Sammamish, Wash., David Faidley of South Haven, Minn. Marla (Faidley) Vander Werff of Windsor Heights. Russel and Janeen (Clark) of Kansas City, Mo., and Debra Bollhoefer of Newton. Other survivors include many step-grandchildren, step-great-grandchildren and step-great-great-grandchildren; great-nieces and nephews; great-great-nieces and nephews; as well as cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two husbands; two sisters, Marie Harrington and Wanda Faidley; three brothers, Herman, David and Arnold; niece, Valerie (Hinthorne) Dede; and great nephew, Liam Noesek.

She will long be remembered for her unique ability to bring order to chaos, coupled with an adventurous spirit. Her whole extended family is deeply indebted to her for her genealogy research.