Norma Elaine Gherrity

Norma Elaine Gherrity, 91, of San Diego passed away peacefully on February 3, 2022. She was born in Decatur, Illinois on April 21, 1930, the daughter of the late Carl Clinton Stevenson and Eunice Lucille (Lanckton) Stevenson.

Norma graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art. She married Patrick Francis Gherrity of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania in Phoenix, Arizona on August 28, 1954. They moved 13 times over the course of Pat’s Naval career, including to Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Maine, Ohio, North Carolina, and Hawaii, until finally settling down in San Diego in 1972.

She was an artist who painted a wide variety of subjects including seascapes, landscapes, and abstracts in oils, acrylics, and watercolors. The scenic splendors of Hawaii and Southern California provided many of the inspirations for her paintings. Her works were hung in many juried exhibitions in Southern California.

She was an active member of various genealogical societies including the Daughters of the American Revolution, The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, The National Society of the Colonial Dames, and The Mayflower Society.

Norma is predeceased by her husband CDR Patrick F. Gherrity USN (Ret) and her sister Donna Lee (Stevenson) Eichler. She is survived by her two sons Patrick Walter Gherrity and Dr. Michael Joseph Gherrity, her daughter Kathleen Marie (Gherrity) Fischer, and her four grandsons Patrick Alexander Gherrity, Timothy Michael Gherrity, Michael James Fischer, and Samuel Caprio Gherrity.

Services will be held at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church on March 8, 2022 at 2:00 pm.

The family asks that donations be made to the Pacific South Coast chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society: https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Chapters/CAS