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Joe Norvill Obituary
Funeral services will be 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 18, in the Chapel of Holman Funeral Home in Ozark with the U.S. Army Chaplain officiating. Interment will follow in Mount Olive Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home one hour prior to service time on Friday.
Mr. Norvill was born Aug. 14, 1922, in Carter County, Okla. He served in the U.S. Army for 23 years until his retirement. He was a member of the 759 Military Police Battalion in Berlin during World War II. Following his retirement, Mr. Norvill worked with Civil Service in Fort Meade, Md., and Fort Jackson, S.C. He lived in Deland, Fla., from 1986 until 1994 when he moved to Eustus, Fla.
His wife, Carolyn Baker Norvill, preceded him in death in 1993.
Survivors include one daughter, Sandy Adkinson Simmons and husband, Joe, of Eustus; two sons, Mike Adkinson of Atlanta and Harry Adkinson and wife, Kathy, of Panama City Beach, Fla.; two grandchildren, Julie Purdie of Atlanta and Amy Waddell of Newnan, Ga. One great-grandson, Jacob Waddell, also survives.
For more information and a guest register, please visit the Holman Funeral Home Web site, www.holmanfuneralhome.com.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Joe Norvill
Mike and Janice Baker
September 10, 2006
I will always remember Uncle Joe and his exterior gruffiness. He was such a fun person to be around even when he wanted you to think otherwise. I think my best memory of him is when he came to the Hampton Roads area for a reunion with his Army buddies. He was so jovial and knew everybody. Before Mike and I left he made sure that we knew them and that they knew us as well. He was a great guy and we will miss him always.
Sue Norvill Jaquess
September 6, 2006
I am Sue Norvill Jaquess, a cousin of Joe's. Joe's dad and my dad Jess were brothers, and both did oilfield work for a number of years. Uncle Joe and Aunt Bess had three children, Fred, Joe, Jr., and Ruth. They were some of our very favorite relatives, whom we saw and visited with frequently over the years. My dad Jess married Inez and produced three offspring also--Red, Don, and Sue.
One of my favorite stories of our early life on a farm near Ada, Oklahoma, involved a visit to my family by Uncle Joe and Aunt Bess, Joe, Jr., and Ruth. Joe (whom we called Junior as children) was rather large and short at the time, while his cousin Don was smaller and much younger than "Junior." My dad sent Don to the barn to the corncrib to bring back a bucket of corn on the cob (probably for the chickens). "Junior" went with him and about 15 minutes later, they came toward the house. Don (the smaller) was carrying a huge bucket of corn and Junior was trailing behind. Don yelled, "Here come Junior wid de cobs." Junior was following Don carrying one ear of corn in each hand. No one could tell this story as Aunt Bess did. She told this tale over and over through the years and never failed to get a laugh. We always enjoyed their visits, because they (Joe, Bess and Ruth) had rather risque jokes to tell and lots of tales from the "olden days."
At one time Joe and Bess lived in Seminole, OK, and Jess (Joe's younger brother) lived with them. Jess was unmarried. Joe and Bess had one or two children by then and lived in a small "shotgun" house, as they were called in the oilfield days. Never did I hear Aunt Bess complain about her brother-in-law living with them. She just remembered the wonderful times they all had together. Joe and Jess worked in the oilfield, as Seminole was quite an oil center of Oklahoma then.
I still remember the night in the early 1940's, I think, as we were all standing by the wall telephone in Jess and Inez's home (kids and all), when we received a message from Aunt Bess from someplace in Illinois telling us that Uncle Joe had been killed that day on a trot-line working on an oil well. We were so shocked and saddened. After this, Aunt Bess and Ruth moved to Ardmore, OK. I think that Fred had married Lulu and lived in Tulsa, and Joe was probably in the Military Police in the service.]
Through the years we continued to visit with each other. It is often sad that one thinks that Joe's family were some of our very favorite Norvill relatives, but we were not privileged to live near them. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. We always enjoyed Joe's vivid tales of his time in the service.
When he and Carolyn were newly married, Joe brought her to Jess and Inez's home near Ada. We loved her southern accent and took to her immediately. My mother Inez was cooking all of us a wonderful farmer Jones lunch and was making cornbread. Carolyn watched her working and saw that she put an egg in the cornbread. Carolyn said, "Back home in the South, we called that "aig bread." She was just a delight, and she and Joe seemed so well matched. We also had the privilege of meeting Harry one summer when he came by to visit Jess and Inez (Harry was in the service then, I believe).
In short, we loved Joe sincerely, he was a wonderful person and will truly be missed. . . .
David Zuidema
August 29, 2006
Miss you a great deal. Our fond memories of our visit together in Berlin in 2000.
Fred Green
August 25, 2006
Baker, I have several memories of Pop, all good. Such as being a War Hawk, breaking free, running down an open field as hard as I could and seeing Pop leading me by 5 yards, carrying many more years and lbs! The trip the boys and I made to get you in Carolina and Pop answering the door at 2 am in his sleeping gown, or not! Pop always having to buy our meals even when his main entree was his "button"...
Love you brother,
Fred
Robbin Miles
August 25, 2006
Harry,
Please know of our prayers for you and your family. May God's strength sustain you and give you rest. Love, Chuck and Robbin Miles
Gerda Clark
August 23, 2006
Joe, so sorry that you had to leave us. I will always remember you as my friendly customer at the snack bar in Berlin. My family, friends and neighbors who met you when you where here in Colorado for the reunion miss you as well. But memories will always be in our hearts. Love Gerda
Jack O'Neil
August 20, 2006
Farewell Joe,
You were a soldier's soldier. Your dedication to your comrades will never be forgotten. When the 50/50 number was drawn for an outstanding member you are the winner
Jack & Anne O'Neil
Sharon Butler
August 20, 2006
I very well remember my big cousin Joe, Jr. In my childhood, my sister, Janelle (Janie), and I spent a lot of time with grandparents, Jess and Inez Norvill at Pickett, rurual community located west of Ada, Oklahoma. This was when they still lived in their old farm house. Perhaps I was there a bit more because Janie started school and I was home with Gran so she could babysit me while Mom was in college.
As kids, some of our very best times were when relatives came to visit and some of the most ENTERTAINING relatives were Aunt Bessie and Ruth Norvill. They always had jokes and funny stories and were incredibly witty, both of them, and I was always amazed that a little old widow lady and her spenster school teacher daughter could be so much FUN!! Aunt Bess's husband, Joe had been killed in an oil field accident, so I never remembered him. In spite of that, laughter was one of her strong points! Her son, Joe Junior was always off somewhere. In those days Gran and Papa always refered to him simply as "Junior". When I was very young, surely not more than 5, I remember the first time I saw my very big cousin, Junior. (probably saw him when I was a baby but this is my first real memory). I do believe this was near to Christmas and Gran had her typical cedar tree, all decorated, in front of the living room window. Junior must have been on furlough from the army because I can remember his kaki uniform and his funny little folded soldiers cap. I'd never seen a uniformed soldier before. Junior was a big boy!! His very plump body was squeezed into that uniform with lots of bumps and rolls and his round, jolly face glowed with twinkling eyed good humor. You would smile just to look into his face! Papa and Gran had talked about his visit so much I was really primed to see him and, of course, loved him immediately. I can remember very well all the attention he gave me, teasing me, getting down on Gran's living room floor on hands and knees to be my "horsey" giving me rides and more rides. I'm sure I giggled and shrieked with laughter.
My next memory of Cousin Junior is when he came to Gran's newer house. I was a teenager and Junior brought his new bride, Carolyn, to meet us all. She was very nice, fun, talkative and friendly. She had the cutest southern accent I'd every heard and we all loved her immediately. We laughed about cultural differences -- our corn bread was "egg bread" to Carolyn (pronounced with a long A: AAG Bread) and she said the word hair in two sylables: HAY ah, without an r sound on the end. Junior was so smitten with Carolyn and it was just fun to be with them. It was amazing to my teenage sensibilities and rather marvelous that so LATE in life Junior had found the love of his life. Junior seemed to be very enthusiastic about Carolyn's teenage and pre-teen children and he told in great detail about a slumber party (with, I thought it was over 15 teens) that they'd hosted. Junior told how they'd accommodated all those bodies and what they'd made for the huge breakfast, etc. He seemed so happy to have a ready-made family. And it was amazing to me that Carolyn seemed not to mind his "size" at all and was obviously smitten with him!
Once or twice I visited Joe and Ruth in Ardmore, Oklahoma taking my 8 year old daughter, Allie. I think this time we drove down with Fred,Joe Jr's older brother, and Fred's wife, Lulu Norvill, from Tulsa. Junior was very sweet and entertaining to my little Allie, in spite of the fact that he was still in grief over the loss of his beloved Carolyn and very sad, of course. Memorable on that visit was the huge brown button he kept in his mouth during the whole visit. He'd sucked on that button over a year, he said, and it had helped him stop smoking! Joe told us a about how he and Carolyn had enjoyed antique shopping together, sometimes traveling quite a distance to find things she needed for interior decorating. It seemed to have been HER passion but he'd happily gone along for the fun. I know he missed his Carolyn so much!
Joe Junior was always a favorite of ours. I will forever remember him fondly.
Love,
Your Cousin by marriage,
Sharon Gayle (Jaquess) Butler
Denver, Colorado
John & Kathe Barretto
August 20, 2006
Please accept our deepest sympathies.
Joseph Groetsch 22 Micahill Road
August 20, 2006
August 22, 2006
Sleep with the Angels Joe. We will miss you.
Joe and Dolly
Janelle McKnight
August 18, 2006
I will remember Joe's good humor and fun stories. He, his sister Ruth and mother Bess, were the funniest, jolliest persons I knew when I was a child and we always looked forward to their visits.
Jorge R. Matos
August 18, 2006
You were very special to us. WE will never forget you.Love,
Ilia and Jorge Matos
FRANK & DOROTHY OLEN
August 18, 2006
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES AND GOOD TIMES WITH THE 759TH MILITARY POLICE ASSOCIATION
catherine markusen
August 18, 2006
harry-
so sorry to hear about pop- my thoughts and prayers are with you-
smith
Steve & Debby Carter
August 18, 2006
Harry, we were so sorry to hear about the death of your dad. Steve was especially fond of him and has many memories of him during the Daleville Warhawks games. Please know that he will be missed and that we extend our deepest sympathies to you and your family.
Don Norvill
August 18, 2006
I am Joe's cousin, Don. He is eight years older than I. We lived in Ada, OK. He went to college there and would come to our house some on weekends. We always had a good time when he came to see us. Then he went into the army, and I made my home in Illinois, so I saw him very little. He did so much for his Mother and sister Ruth. He was great.
Fred & LaJuana Green
August 18, 2006
Pop touched a lot of lives and will certainly be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.
Virginia Norvill
August 18, 2006
This entry is especially meant for Harry. I married into the Norvill family, and only saw Joe twice in my life, but I admired him so very much for the length of time he chose to be away from his home and to care for his sister, Ruth, and was of the impression he was a very nice person. Younger members in the family remember him in earlier years as being so much fun to be with. I am convinced he was a wonderful person.
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