Midland Remembers: Part two of the story of Norma Boeckler
At the age of one, Norma Boeckler lost her mother Inez Wasmuth. Complications of pregnancy ended the life of the young woman who was just 19 when she died. Later, a fire left Norma with no keepsakes of her mother, few photos and no memory of the young woman who gave birth to her. Still, it is from her mother's side of the family that she inherited the gift that would carry her to Japan, to Australia, to one-woman art shows in Detroit, Mount Pleasant, Flint and Saginaw Township. The latent artist in Inez Wasmuth would eventually change her daughter's life. Her story continues.
Norma worked for A. C. Graham for the next ten years, five as a young single woman and five as a young married woman. A. C. Graham Motors was located at 500 East Lyon road with A.C. serving as president and son Bob serving as vice president. Norma managed the office.
With a secure job and her whole life before her, Norma and Loretta Niedbala (now Mrs. Richard Miller) rented an apartment together. Typical of young people at the time, they took vacations each year and often drove to Houghton Lake where dances were held on the weekend.
One tour Norma remembered vividly was when the five of them took a tour to Colorado and rented a motel room at the foot of Pike's Peak. "We were supposed to be able to see seven states from one point but the day we got there it was so foggy you couldn't see two feet in front of you," she said.
At one of the dances at Houghton Lake, Norma meet a young man who was attending Valparaiso University in Indiana and was spending his vacation at the lake. He asked her to go to church with him the next Sunday and it was Norma's introduction to the Lutheran church Although her father Alex had been confirmed at St. John's Lutheran in Midland by Pastor Karl Linsenmann as a teenager, as an adult he had drifted away from the church. Norma began visiting various churches and finally chose St. John's Lutheran Church. She said simply, "I liked their doctrine."
At the age of 20 Norma was confirmed at St. John's by Pastor Walter Schoedel through an adult instruction class. About this same time she met the young man she would marry shortly.
In the building where Norma and Loretta lived, there was another apartment in the front of the house. Ann, one of the girls in the front apartment, was dating a young man named Bill who was now working at The Dow Chemical Co. and rooming with his best friend from Roscommon, Walt Boeckler. Ann said to Bill, "I know this gal who lives in the back apartment and I think Walt ought to have a date with her." Ann and Norma went to the Midland Community Center where Bill and Walt were exercising. Ann pointed Walt out to Norma and asked what she thought of him.
"He's kinda cute but he needs some new pants," Norma said. Walt had just gotten out of the Navy and hadn't had time to invest in new civilian clothes yet. Walt and Norma had their first date at Dean's Inn in March of 1957. It didn't take long for them to realize they were in love. By July of 1957 they were engaged and they were married at St. John's Lutheran Church on Oct.12, 1957. Walt became a member of St. John's after they were married.
Norma contined to work at A. C. Graham while Walt worked at Dow, moving steadily from shift work to nuclear and then basic research and then to Dow medical research as a research biologist.
Their first home was in a trailer park on Bay City Road and then they bought property on Vance Road and began building the home where they would spend the rest of their married life. When it was framed in, they moved in. Norma said, "We actually had to use a 50-foot extension cord with a bare light bulb on the end of it which we carried from room to room so we would have light. We used orange crates for cupboards. And we hung material over the windows so no one could see in."
When their son Karl was born in 1963, Norma quit working. In 1966 their daughter Maria was born. Walt fell ill after they were married seven years, retiring on disability in 1981. He passed away in 2002.
Having worked as a secretary and then teaching kindergarten at Holy Scripture in Midland, Norma went back to her first love -- art. She took an acrylic class at the Midland Center for the Arts and then a water color class. She began selling her art work in 1991. While in retrospect it seems as though it took a long time for her to pursue art full time, in reality her success in the last 18 years has been phenomenal. In 1992 she won Best of Show at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library art show. By 1996 her ability earned her a trip to Japan along with seven other artists. In 2004 she had a one woman art show in Australia.
Always seeking ways too improve her art, Norma took a seminar from Cheng Khee Chee at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, and then a two-year (which she finished in one ) course from the Famous Artists Studio in Connecticut.
Her art work has been displayed widely in Michigan. She illustrated six books for Gregory L. Jackson of Bethany Lutheran Church, serving as artist in residence on his blog. She has her own website where she displays her art on the Internet. She is an alumni and on the website of the Famous Artists School.
For a little girl who started out doing a mural on wallpaper with crayons, Norma Boeckler has come to a point in her life where she has both the time and energy to pursue her passion for art full-time. She continues studying various forms of art and tries them out periodically but at this point water color remains her favorite. She even remembered her first sale. It was at her one woman art show in Mount Pleasant and a professor from Central Michigan University purchased her water color of Christmas poinsettias.
Tryon Edwards once wrote: "True art is reverent imitation of God." Seeing Norma Boeckler's art breathes new meaning into those words.
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Norma worked for A. C. Graham for the next ten years, five as a young single woman and five as a young married woman. A. C. Graham Motors was located at 500 East Lyon road with A.C. serving as president and son Bob serving as vice president. Norma managed the office.
With a secure job and her whole life before her, Norma and Loretta Niedbala (now Mrs. Richard Miller) rented an apartment together. Typical of young people at the time, they took vacations each year and often drove to Houghton Lake where dances were held on the weekend.
One tour Norma remembered vividly was when the five of them took a tour to Colorado and rented a motel room at the foot of Pike's Peak. "We were supposed to be able to see seven states from one point but the day we got there it was so foggy you couldn't see two feet in front of you," she said.
At one of the dances at Houghton Lake, Norma meet a young man who was attending Valparaiso University in Indiana and was spending his vacation at the lake. He asked her to go to church with him the next Sunday and it was Norma's introduction to the Lutheran church Although her father Alex had been confirmed at St. John's Lutheran in Midland by Pastor Karl Linsenmann as a teenager, as an adult he had drifted away from the church. Norma began visiting various churches and finally chose St. John's Lutheran Church. She said simply, "I liked their doctrine."
At the age of 20 Norma was confirmed at St. John's by Pastor Walter Schoedel through an adult instruction class. About this same time she met the young man she would marry shortly.
In the building where Norma and Loretta lived, there was another apartment in the front of the house. Ann, one of the girls in the front apartment, was dating a young man named Bill who was now working at The Dow Chemical Co. and rooming with his best friend from Roscommon, Walt Boeckler. Ann said to Bill, "I know this gal who lives in the back apartment and I think Walt ought to have a date with her." Ann and Norma went to the Midland Community Center where Bill and Walt were exercising. Ann pointed Walt out to Norma and asked what she thought of him.
"He's kinda cute but he needs some new pants," Norma said. Walt had just gotten out of the Navy and hadn't had time to invest in new civilian clothes yet. Walt and Norma had their first date at Dean's Inn in March of 1957. It didn't take long for them to realize they were in love. By July of 1957 they were engaged and they were married at St. John's Lutheran Church on Oct.12, 1957. Walt became a member of St. John's after they were married.
Norma contined to work at A. C. Graham while Walt worked at Dow, moving steadily from shift work to nuclear and then basic research and then to Dow medical research as a research biologist.
Their first home was in a trailer park on Bay City Road and then they bought property on Vance Road and began building the home where they would spend the rest of their married life. When it was framed in, they moved in. Norma said, "We actually had to use a 50-foot extension cord with a bare light bulb on the end of it which we carried from room to room so we would have light. We used orange crates for cupboards. And we hung material over the windows so no one could see in."
When their son Karl was born in 1963, Norma quit working. In 1966 their daughter Maria was born. Walt fell ill after they were married seven years, retiring on disability in 1981. He passed away in 2002.
Having worked as a secretary and then teaching kindergarten at Holy Scripture in Midland, Norma went back to her first love -- art. She took an acrylic class at the Midland Center for the Arts and then a water color class. She began selling her art work in 1991. While in retrospect it seems as though it took a long time for her to pursue art full time, in reality her success in the last 18 years has been phenomenal. In 1992 she won Best of Show at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library art show. By 1996 her ability earned her a trip to Japan along with seven other artists. In 2004 she had a one woman art show in Australia.
Always seeking ways too improve her art, Norma took a seminar from Cheng Khee Chee at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, and then a two-year (which she finished in one ) course from the Famous Artists Studio in Connecticut.
Her art work has been displayed widely in Michigan. She illustrated six books for Gregory L. Jackson of Bethany Lutheran Church, serving as artist in residence on his blog. She has her own website where she displays her art on the Internet. She is an alumni and on the website of the Famous Artists School.
For a little girl who started out doing a mural on wallpaper with crayons, Norma Boeckler has come to a point in her life where she has both the time and energy to pursue her passion for art full-time. She continues studying various forms of art and tries them out periodically but at this point water color remains her favorite. She even remembered her first sale. It was at her one woman art show in Mount Pleasant and a professor from Central Michigan University purchased her water color of Christmas poinsettias.
Tryon Edwards once wrote: "True art is reverent imitation of God." Seeing Norma Boeckler's art breathes new meaning into those words.
Source
