|
 
Norman Richard Mincemoyer, 74, of Rockford, passed away at ANAM Memory Care Center on Tuesday, October 29, 2019. Born February 8, 1945 at SwedishAmerican Hospital in Rockford, the son of Richard and Gladys (Sandberg) Mincemoyer. Norman graduated from East High School in 1963. He then went to the Lutheran Bible Institute in Minneapolis, MN. In January 1967 he entered the United States Air Force serving during the Vietnam War. Norman married Mary Louise Jackson at Faith Lutheran Church in Madison, MN on July 22, 1967. To this union two children were born, Scott and Missy. He was with Village Missions, Rockford Health System and Mincemoyer Jewelry. Norman touched many lives for the Lord with his soft-spoken witness, and he won many to the Lord. He was an avid photographer and enjoyed taking pictures. Halleluiah he is at home with the Lord.
Survived by wife, Mary; children, Scott (Mary) Mincemoyer of Roscoe, IL and Missy (Mike) Thompson of Rockford, IL; grandchildren, Daniel & Karina Mincemoyer and Cameron & Payton Davis; and siblings, Ray (Willa) Mincemoyer and Jean (Dave) Alfredson. Predeceased by his parents; and many aunts and uncles.
Funeral Services will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, November 4, 2019 at Fred C. Olson Chapel, 1001 Second Ave., Rockford, IL with Reverend Chuck Rife officiating with special music by his son-in-law. Visitation will be from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 3, 2019 in the chapel. Burial in Scandinavian Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Rockford Rescue Mission, 715 W. State St., Rockford, IL 61102 or Stephen’s Ministry @ First Free, 2223 N. Mulford Rd., Rockford, IL 61107.
|
Nestor White
Norm and I lived on Rome Avenue. He was across the street from Highland School at the other end of the block up from State Street (US 20). I lived in the next block about halfway between State St. and Rural. We had a Rockford Morning Star route in our family for 16 years (both my older brother, Brian (East 1957), and younger brother, Randon (East 1968). Norm's parents were paper customers as our route was Rockford Ave. and Rome Ave. from State to Rural, a very great route right where we lived. I only remember playing with him inside his house on one occasion, but I remember that he had a large electric train layout. I was really envious of that. We had a train but it was not set up permanently like his.
We went all the way through school together from Highland to Lincoln JRHS and then to East. I remember him as quiet and friendly, a really decent guy but not too athletic or popular. It's sad to see the passing of these old friends. If I recall correctly he was in ROTC. I think I was the only guy in ROTC that had any athletic letters, three each in cross country and track. It was PE or ROTC, so all of the guys that didn't like sports went into the ROTC program. My older brother was the Battalion Commander as a senior, so that's how I got my interest in ROTC. Two funny stories. At the University of Illinois, where I attended from 1963-65 before going to Annapolis, ROTC was mandatory for 2 years. I went into AFROTC because I was trying to get into the US Air Force Academy. To get promoted you just had to pass a test, and you could take 1 test each week. After the second month I was the highest ranking Freshman at the U of I and we had about 10,000 in the program (all services). My plebe summer at the academy (summer of 1965) we had marksmanship with both the M1 rifle and the 45cal. pistol. I earned Expert ratings for both because of my marksmanship training on the range in East's basement. I also broke the Naval Academy Plebe Summer record shooting 293 out of 300 with the rifle at 100 yards. The ROTC training was valuable in many ways! I retired from the Navy in 1989 and served as a jet pilot and aircraft maintenance officer.
Nestor White
Sheryl Beaman (Gilbert)
Norman and I were friends at school,Highland,Lincoln & East. I lived on Rome Ave right across from Highland School. I remember Norman & Nestor very well. I am now friends with Norman's sister on Facebook. Love keeping in touch with old school friends.
Sherri Beaman Gilbert
Sam Stonefield
As another Highland/Lincoln/East alum, I remember Norman, as well as Nestor and Sheryl. Norman was a fine fellow - quiet and steady.
The posts sparks three thoughts: 1) speaking of Rome Avenue, remember the small store right next to Highland School, where we could get candy and other things? Loved that store. 2) who else in our class lived on Rome Avenue? I think that Tom Gertz did. I remember visiting his house and being fascinated with his (or his father's or brother's) pigeons, kept in the roost of their garage; 3) things that I didn't know: I thought that I knew East High School pretty well, but I never knew that it had a shooting range. Where was it?
Best wishes to all of the Class of 1963.
Ken Hartman
I did not know Norm. Sam, I also did not know East had a gun range, and I did a lot of shooting. Also cheers to all class of 63!!
Kathleen Anderson (Nelson)
I didn't know Norman well despite attending all three schools with him. Seemed like a nice quiet guy. I remember his family's jewelry store well. My husband Chuck bought my engagement ring there. I loved that little store next to Highland too. It fostered my lifelong love of gummy candy. Chuck remembers the shooting range in the basement although he wasn't in ROTC.
Nestor White
The store next to Highland School was owned by the Gottos (I think that is the correct spelling. They were an older Italian couple and had a daughter that lived next door. They lived in a small apartment on the left side of the store. I don't think the store had a name, but it was sure popular with the kids. They were Rockford Morning Star paper customers of ours for many years. I remember buying penny candy and gum with different kinds of collector cards in the package. I was not into sports-related cards but had many with cars and airplanes. Most of the kids would open the cards and throw the gum away in a cardboard box (trashcan) that they had outside of the store. It was always full of hundreds of large, square pieces of gum that were never chewed. Regular candy bars were 5 cents and some like Almond Joy and Mounds were 10 cents. The weekly newspaper cost 35 cents a week and Sunday only was 15 cents...how times have changed. Here the Jacksonville FL paper runs about $700 a year and it's not very large or good.
East High School had a small arms (22 cal.) rifle range in the basement. If you were not in ROTC you probably never knew about it. Because the floors were concrete, nobody could hear any sound from the range. East had a Rifle Team that competed with other high schools in the area. I think all of the high schools had ranges. I know West did for sure. You could letter in Rifle since it was a JV and Varsity sport at East. Terry Harms, and others lettered in Rifle but I was never on the team. I was Color Guard Commander in my junior year and carried the American Flag in parades and at all of the football games. The Color Guard was responsible for raising and lowering the flag form the large pole every day in front of the high school. If it rained we also went outside and took down the flag. Everyone in ROTC got excellent small arms training and had the opportunity to qualify for various badges and pins depending on the level of achievement. We learned to shoot with a sling wrapped around our arm in prone, sitting and standing positions including a lot of classroom training. Every member was assigned an M1 30 cal rifle. The officers got M1 Carbines We had to disassemble them and clean them regularly and marched with our own rifles. We also got training on the Browning 45 cal pistol and a light machine gun. We went to an outdoor range once a year and got to shoot the rifle and pistol but never the machine gun. When you think about it, WWII ended in 1945 and we were in HS only 15 years after that. We have been fighting in Afghanistan longer than that.