Ralph Norman was born January 28, 1884, in Crab Orchard, Illinois. He served on the school board in Marion for 40 years and was a former city commissioner.
Norman was the son of the late Leroy Norman and Clementine Hastings. He was married in Marion December 2, 1905, to Sarah T. Jordan which appears to be about the time he and his wife started living in Marion.
A 1907 Marion directory lists Ralph and Sarah as living at 804 W. Main St. and Ralph was working for Brown Dry Goods at 1801 W. Main Street where Marion Gas is now located and which Cooksey Grocery occupied for many decades.
The 1910 census reveals that the couple now in their early 20’s had a six month old son named Thomas Norman, born in 1909. They were renting a home at 404 E. Marion Street and Ralph was a manager for a wholesale house.
In September of 1919, when Ralph went to the Local Selective Service office at 201 ½ Public Square to register for WWI he was 34 years old and was a salesman for Jean Burkhart who had a shoe store for decades at 600 Public Square where Powell’s and then Albrights Clothing would be later located. He was described as medium height, slender build, grey eyes, light hair and a light complexion. The couple had moved from their E. Marion Street rental and were then located at 904 N. State Street.
This would also have been the time period that Ralph began serving on the school board.
The 1920 census, found the couple renting living space at 503 N. Market. The couple is now in their 30’s and have two sons. Their oldest son Thomas Norman was then 10 and Ralph Eugene Norman was 2 years and 11 months old having been born in 1917.
Around 1921, the couple bought what would serve as their family home that they would remain in at 108 W. Goodall St. A 1922 directory confirms this and also that he continued working for Jean Burkhart through the 1920’s and into the 1930’s.
When the organization of the Sword of Bunker Hill was chartered in 1925, Ralph Norman was a charter officer.
In about 1929, their son Thomas married a female by the name of Eloise and the next year they were found in the 1930 census to be renting space at 204 N. Buchanan Street. Thomas was a book keeper for a coal mine and his wife was a public school teacher.
The 1930 census also found Ralph and Sarah in their Goodall home with no children present. He was then the manager of Burkhart’s Shoe Store. The couple is in their early 40’s.
On April 27, 1942, Ralph was obligated to register for the WWII draft. The draft board office had moved from the square and was then located at 101 ½ W. Main Street. By this time, Ralph was 58 years old and was then working for Sherwin Williams who had an office at Carbondale, Illinois. His work, however, required him to go the Illinois Ordnance Plant west of Marion. Sherwin-Williams was the government contractor that ran the Ordill plant. He was described as 5’7”, 135 lbs., grey eyes and hair with a light complexion.
Ralph served as Marion city commissioner in the term of 1947 through 1951 under Mayor Harry Rodd.
He was a member of the Marion Grade School Board from 1951 to 1958. He resigned in November 1957 as board secretary but continued as office clerk. William Armstrong, hired by the board to assist Norman, succeeded him as board secretary (business administrator).
Ralph retired on January 31, 1959, because of poor health. At the time of his retirement Norman had recalled a school board election in the 1930’s, when he was a candidate, and he and his opponent jointly hired five cars to take the voters to the election.
He was last employed as the school business administrator. In addition to serving as board secretary, Norman served at various times as school board member, purchasing agent, and chairman of the building and grounds committee.
Ralph Norman, 79, died at 4 a.m. Friday, May 3, 1963, in Marion Memorial Hospital, where he entered Wednesday. Norman had been ill for the several years previous and had retired in poor health.
He was a deacon in the First Baptist Church, where he was a member, and for 40 years served as secretary of the Junior Department. He was a member of the Royal Arch Masons, Noel Shrine No. 99, and the Fellowship Lodge No. 89, A.F. and A.M.
At the time of his death survivors included a son, Tom J. Norman, Akron, Ohio; four grandchildren, and a sister, Mrs. Myrtle Thompson, Marion.
A son, Gene Norman (Ralph Eugene), died May 8, 1954, and three brothers and two sisters also preceded him in death.
Funeral services were held Sunday, May 5, at 2 p.m. at Mitchell Funeral Home. Officiating at the service was the pastor of the First Baptist Church, the Rev. C. R. Walker. Burial was in New Rose Hill Cemetery.
The couple’s son Thomas Norman died in January 1973.
Ralph’s wife Sarah T. Norman was born on April 18, 1888 and died in May of 1974. She was interred at Rose Hill Cemetery with Ralph and their two sons.
(Data extracted from Ralph Norman’s Marion Daily Republican obituary; Federal Census Records; Marion Street Directories; Marion City Cemetery Records; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 08/07/2013)