Arvid Nels Norman

NORMAN, Arvid Nels
June 18, 1913Nov 9, 2004
Arvid Nels Norman was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 18, 1913, the only child of Leroy Arvid Liljeholm (later changed to Norman) and Alma Lindgren.

When Arvid was 16, he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for three months to study tile setting at the Dunwoody Institute, where he earned a Tile Setting Apprentice Certificate in December 1929. He then returned to live with his parents in Urbana, Illinois, where he graduated from Urbana High School in 1931. After graduation, Arvid did tile work with his father when they could find jobs during the Depression.

In 1934, Arvid received a full-tuition scholarship at the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana, where he studied ceramic engineering. After two years, Arvid left college and went to Sarasota, Florida, with his parents, where he and his father did tile work when they could find it and sold fruit from stands and to hotels.

Arvid was drafted into the army reserves in February 1941 for a six-month term. He did his basic training with the cavalry at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. His scheduled discharge was cancelled when the war began to heat up, and he ended up serving in the Army for the duration of World War II.

After the war ended, Arvid went back to school at the University of Illinois, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Engineering in October 1947. Within a week of graduation, Arvid left Illinois for California, where he'd heard work was plentiful. He took a temporary assignment at a private architectural firm before beginning his career as a civilian employee of McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento as an Architectural Engineer in December 1947.

Arvid met Betty Baker in May 1948 at a dance in Sacramento. They were married a little over a year later on June 26, 1949, at First Presbyterian Church in Stockton. Arvid built a house for them on Rockwell Drive, doing almost all of the work himself.

Arvid and Betty's first child, Nancy, was born on May 13, 1952, and their second daughter, Karen, was born July 9, 1955. The family moved to Arden Park in October 1959 and Arvid became a registered civil engineer. In 1973 the family moved to a new house at 3950 Orangewood Drive in Fair Oaks (which Arvid built as his own general contractor), where they lived until last month. Arvid retired in 1977 after 33 years and 7 months of government service, including time served in the military. Arvid then took a job as a Plan Check Engineer for Yolo County for four years, retiring for good in June 1981, at the age of 68. After retiring, Arvid spent his time fixing up and selling the family's rental properties and subdividing the 20 acres they'd bought south of Sacramento years before (the street splitting the tract into 4 lots is still called Norman Lane). He and Betty then took time to travel, and Arvid devoted much of his spare time to playing golf, reading about the stock market and visiting his grandchildren.

Arvid is survived by his wife, Betty, his daughter, Nancy Pautsch, and her husband, Richard Pautsch of Friendswood, Texas, and grandchildren Catherine Pautsch of Charlotte, North Carolina, Anna Pautsch of Boulder, Colorado, Maia Pautsch of Friendswood, and his daughter, Karen Cirac, her husband, Michael Cirac, and their sons, Nick, Tyler and Kyle Cirac, all of Reno, Nevada. Arvid was a loving husband, father and grandfather, who will be missed very much. Visitation will be held at Lind Brothers Mortuary on Thursday, Nov. 11, from 4:00-8:00 PM and on Friday from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. Services will be held on Friday, Nov. 12, at 2:00 PM at Carmichael Presbyterian Church.