Graveside services for Norma Carolyn Goering, 98, of Indianola, Iowa, who passed away Saturday, June 17, 2023 at Shirlee's Retirement Home in Indianola, will be held 2:30 p.m., Thursday, June 22, 2023 in the IOOF Memorial Gardens Cemetery, in Indianola.

Iowa was having a brutal winter that particular year. It was an unbearably freezing February 16, 1925 day when Cecil and Nellie Clevenger welcomed their very tiny new baby girl they named Norma Carolyn Clevenger into this world at Otter Creek Township in Warren County, Iowa.

Baby Norma was welcomed by sisters Lois, Ruth, Jeanne and Lenoir, brother Albert and five years later, brother Homer, completed the family.

Norma was an active child. She loved being outdoors. She loved her dad's horses and  trailed after him all over the farm. As her dad was a carpenter, she "helped" him with some of his simple projects. They made quite a team. Like most everyone else, they were always busy just trying to survive the Great Depression days.

After completing grade school, she began taking "Normal Training " classes to become a teacher (like her sisters were),  but quickly realized and decided she really didn't want to do that. So she didn't. She graduated from Indianola High School in 1942 barely 17 years old.

Soon after graduation, she met the love of her life, Ulin Goering and they were married September 23, 1942. He was a truck driver and she sometimes rode with him to make gravel or coal deliveries.

Living in Knoxville at the time, they welcomed a daughter Carolyn in 1944, a son Alan in 1946, a son Merrill in 1948 and then a daughter Janella in 1954. The family always lived on a farm. Norma worked hard and always raised a large garden (just not green beans). She provided lots of good and nutritional food for her family. She was a fantastic cook! They also always had a few cows, pigs and chickens.

Sadly, Ulin passed away unexpectedly in 1980. They had 38 good years together. As the children grew up and left home, she took a job at Younkers Peacock Room at Southridge Mall in Des Moines where she later retired.

Norma was a crossword puzzle genius-yes  she used ink! She loved all kinds of music: The Beatles, all Big Bands, Elvis and George Strait. She play the piano by ear and could play any song she heard. She loved to dance and would go with friends for several years to local dances. She even had her own tap shoes.

She was challenged in 2020, surviving a bad fall and then a stroke. She eventually became a resident at Shirlee's Retirement Home where she passed from this life peacefully on Saturday June 17, 2023. Norma lived the majority of her life in Warren County to the age of 98 years and 4 months. Norma lived a very full, rich and rewarding life. She was a kind, gentle and loving soul. And we all will miss her greatly.

Norma is survived by her children, Carolyn King, Alan Goering, Merrill (Linda) Goering, Janella (Don) Sandy; 14 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; 9 great-great-grandchildren; many nieces, nephews, and other family and friends. She is preceded in death by her husband, Ulin; parents, Cecil and Nellie Clevenger; 6 siblings, a son-in-law and a great grandson.

Memorial contributions may be made to the family in her name for a contribution at a later date.