Norma Bertin Lucas

Norma B. Lucas (née Eickhoff) died peacefully after a gentle decline, with her three daughters surrounding her holding hands, in Fairfax, VA on January 14, 2017, at the age of 86. She celebrated her final earthly birthday the day before with singing, praise, ice cream, poems, scripture and joyful reminiscing. Norma is survived by her three daughters: Diane Magin (Pittsburgh, PA) with her son Geoffrey; Denise Lynch (Chicago, IL) with her daughters Brooke and Samantha; and Cheryl Urban (Fairfax, VA) with her children Wyatt, Morgan and Vera. Norma is preceded in death by her mother, Idell Eickhoff and father, William Eickhoff, of Jersey City, New Jersey. Norma was born on January 13, 1931 in Jersey City, NJ. She graduated from Jersey State Teachers College and received her Masters Degree from NYU. She married Walter A. Lucas of Jersey City, NJ in 1958. A natural teacher all her life, she taught grade school in Bogota, NJ and Omaha, NE before starting a family and moving to Hamden, CT with her former husband of 33 years, Walter A. Lucas, now in Port Richey, FL. She resumed her love of teaching by becoming a substitute teacher in the Hamden, CT school system. For years afterwards, she would be greeted by former students around town who continued to share their happy classroom memories with her. Norma always lived a positive life, even after a long recuperation from meningitis at age 50 which left Norma deaf. It was a testament to her faith and her nature. Norma learned to read lips well and never lost her Jersey accent. Norma resumed a vigorous life, working in the mailroom at Bloomingdale's Catalog Center in Cheshire, CT. She made lifelong friends there, and retired in 1999. After retirement, Norma volunteered at the Cheshire Senior Center, setting out the lunch tables and enjoying the company of other senior residents. She even started the pinochle club there, which became an active group with many participants. Norma lived in the Cheshire Hillside Community, where she made many lovely friends and neighbors who visited her faithfully, especially towards the later years, before she moved to Sunrise Springfield in 2015, to be closer to one of her daughters, Cheryl in Virginia. Norma loved geology and rock collecting, and amassed a nice collection, adding pieces from wherever she traveled, including from the Southwest US, which she loved best. She was an accomplished horseback rider as a young lady, and an accomplished pianist. Her daughters have wonderful memories of her playing her baby grand. Norma's strong point was not cooking, so her family has great memories of eating out together for many a family event. Norma enjoyed eating out at Dino's for fish, and Vespucci's for lasagna, her favorite food to the very end of her life. She also fed the neighborhood skunk, despite her family's protest and condo rules. Norma loved her six grandchildren, and kept her walls decorated with their art work. She loved to watch her young grandchildren play at the Cheshire Community Park. Norma always asked after them and was so proud of each of their academic and athletic achievements as they grew up. Her grandchildren always found at least two half gallons of ice cream in her freezer at every visit and looked forward to playing cards (Kings in the Corner anyone?) and Bananagrams with her. Norma was a devoted, religious woman all her life, and read through the Bible cover to cover several times. She attended area churches, including Dunbar United Church- UCC of Hamden, CT and First Congregational Church of Cheshire, CT. She watched Charles Stanley on TV and wrote notebooks full of his sermons and passages that had deep meaning to her life. We have all been touched by her beautiful living spirit through the years, and we are sure our loving memories of her will continually bless us and her grandchildren. The funeral for Norma is on Saturday, January 21, 2017 and begins with a 10:00am viewing and 11:00am service lead by Rev. Phil Passantino at A.K. Macagna Funeral Home located at 495 Anderson Avenue, Cliffside Park, Bergen County, New Jersey. Rev. Passantino will also offer a prayer at Fairview Cemetery located at 500 Fairview Avenue, Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey for the 12:00 noon burial. A reception will follow at 1:00 pm. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Norma's life. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Reading Is Fundamental online at www.rif.org/donate, or send a donation to RIF, 1730 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC, 20036. The family would like to thank Norma's Cheshire aides, the staffs at Sunrise Springfield and Fairfax Rehab and Nursing Center for their loving efforts and excellent care in her latter years.