Juanita Norris

Juanita was born to Gus and Grace Huffman of Montcoal West Virginia on October 13, 1938. Juanita was born into a coal miners family with her roots tied back to the West Virginia coal mine wars where her grand father Cleve Woodrum lost his life, sometime after the lights had been shot out of the House the night her mother Grace was being born. She wore that history as a badge of honor. Later in life, Juanita married James Norris and gave birth to three children, Sandy, Jimmy, and Lloyd. Juanita divorced James in 1962, and was married to Dean Norris, the love of her life. They had one son together, Randy Norris.

Juanita's life with Dean included the role of being "Mom" to Dean's two daughters Beverly Denise, and Sharon Elaine.

She and Dean built their home in New River by hand, starting in 1966. Together they raked rocks, cut cactus, fought snakes and scorpions, chased out a covey of quail who had taken up residence in the house before it was ready to move into. Together they planted trees, grew grass basically creating a small paradise in an empty desert that still stands to this day. Together they blew up the TV, threw away the paper, raised us on peaches, and let us to find Jesus on our own.

Juanita could cook like a chef when the mood struck her. Her ability to make big fluffy biscuits from scratch or put a crisp on golden brown cornbread was second to none. She could make the most wonderful hash-browns from scratch, using only the potatoes which her and Dean had grown right out in the yard; A yard that had once upon a time been nothing more than a barren patch of rocky, parched into cracking soil; Soil where plant life was rationed mostly to rugged, stinging cacti, without the slightest rumor of lush and vibrant foliage, but had now been transformed through love and devotion into the proverbial Garden of Eden where Dean and Juanita hung their hats and so rightly dubbed "Home".

Juanita enjoyed a life which was filled with incredible memories, and enjoyed the love of so many. She was very well read, reading bed-time stories for her grand children any night they stayed with her, as well as reading and memorizing many verses of scripture. She was also known for her ability to make people laugh with her quick-tongued wit. She enjoyed a large family, and her love of her siblings was always a topic of many conversations. She had a knack for spelling words backwards and forwards and identifying patterns in numbers. Her artistic side could be seen in her dioramas made by hand using only materials found in nature.

Juanita was a member of the Order of Eastern stars, and she helped her husband Dean memorize his 3 degrees to become a Master Mason (but don't tell anyone). She always wondered about the sacred secret and took on the quest to the end of her days to find it.

Juanita was preceded in death by her husband Dean, sisters- Orphy, Bertha, Lela, and Sandy, her parents Gus and Grace Huffman, and Beverly Denise whom she loved and raised as one of her own.

Juanita is survived by her three sons, Jimmy, Lloyd, Randy, and her daughters Sandra Freer and Sharon Blankenship. Numerous grand, great and great-great-grandchildren, as well as many nephews and nieces. Juanita is also survived by her sisters Shirley Ferguson,Gwen Slayton, and her brother Gus Huffman Jr., all of Oregon.

Juanita was an incredible human being who lived a full life filled with many ups and downs, and shall be greatly missed.