Norma DePriest (1920-2004)

Norma DePriest was born on the 16th of October 1920 in Manassa, Conejos, Colorado, United States.  She was the second daughter and fifth child born to Jesse Thomas DePriest and Freda "Pearl" Von Cannon.

Norma's parents were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and she was given a blessing on the 1st of August 1920 by Thomas H. Haskell [1].  She was baptized, the same day as her sister, Bessie, on the 2nd of September 1928 in Manassa at the San Luis Stake Center.  Norma lived in Manassa until her family moved to Nortonville [2] before 1923 [3][4] with her family.  She went to the Excelsior school with her siblings and graduated in 1937.

Norma and Bessie about 1938

Norma married Thomas Lee "Tom" Van Horn on the 8th of January 1939 in Manassa.  Tom and Norma had four sons:   Donald Ray Van Horn (1939), Ronald Lee Van Horn (1939), Thomas Duane Van Horn (1944-2012) and Roy Berneil Van Horn (1945).  The Van Horns made their home in Conejos County near Norma's parents [5] before moving into Alamosa County.  Norma was a book keeper for several years at Montgomery Ward raising her sons on her own after she and Tom were divorced.

Norma always grew a huge garden and after she retired, she traveled frequently with Bessie and Bessie's husband, Bob, visiting relatives throughout the country.  She surely loved her boys and was very proud of her descendants, especially her missionaries.

Norma died in Marana, Pima, Arizona, Untied States on the 19th of November 2004.  She was buried near her sister, Bessie, in the New Manassa Cemetery located in Conejos, Colorado, United States [6].

Footnotes:
1. 1920 San Luis Stake Records (located in the Manassa Colorado Stake Family History Center.
2. Nortonville was a  small farming community northeast of Sanford still in Conejos County.  (The mailing address was Sanford.)
3. Maurice Berneil "Deke" DePriest (Norma's brother) was born in Nortonville in 1923.
4. 1930 United States Census:  Sanford, Conejos, Colorado.
5. 1940 United States Census:  Conejos, Colorado
6. Headstone image from findagrave.com.