Norma Jean Michels

Norma Jean Michels (Kinzer) died May 22nd, 2025, in Poulsbo, WA, at the age of 90. She was the oldest of four children born to Henry J. Kinzer and Margaret T. Kinzer (Dahmen). Born in Uniontown, WA, she was the daughter of a farmer who later moved his family to the town of Genesee, ID while continuing to farm. She followed the baseball career of Joe DiMaggio and the musical careers of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman while listening to the radio before her father came into the room, telling her to switch to a classical music station. Her best friend Aunt Carol Dahmen, who was five months younger than Norma Jean, would clandestinely share movie magazines with her when Norma Jean’s mother wasn’t around.

She was educated by the Benedictine Sisters at St. Mary’s School in Genesee before attending Genesee High School from where she graduated in 1952, serving as student body secretary her final year while also active in school theater. From there she went on to Holy Names College in Spokane where she attained her two-year degree in secretarial studies. It was at a gathering near the Gonzaga Campus where she was introduced to John M. Michels, an electrical engineering student nearing completion of his third year at Gonzaga. After attending summer ROTC training at Ft. Riley, KS, he returned in the fall for his final year and proposed to Norma. They were married in Genesee the following summer on June 26, 1954. They moved to Milwaukee where John was employed for a short time at Allis-Chalmers and Norma Jean worked as a secretary before giving birth to their first of nine children. John then began his two-year officer commission as an active duty intelligence/armory officer, attending airborne school at Ft. Bragg as part of the 82 nd Airborne before transferring to Ft. Campbell, KY and the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles. Norma Jean had two more children while an active duty wife, one at Ft. Bragg and the other near Ft. Campbell, before John’s commission ended and the five of them moved back to Milwaukee where Norma was a full-time mother while John worked again as a nuclear engineer for Allis-Chalmers. It was in Waukesha, WI where their fourth child was born.

Norma and John moved to Seattle in 1960-1961, when John was hired by Boeing Aerospace where he worked for the next thirty years and was an integral developer of the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Norma gave birth to five more children and raised their entire family in South Seattle. She volunteered at her children’s schools and was an avid bridge player. Later, as empty-nesters, she and John traveled throughout Europe, researching family history in Irlich, Germany as well as the Banat region, now part of Serbia, Hungary, and Romania.

Norma Jean is survived by her sister Verdelle Woods of Garland, TX and her brother Kenneth Kinzer of Olympia, WA, her children, Margaret C. Fisher, Washington DC, Friedrich M. Michels (Mary Lou), Wasilla, AK, Erich P. Michels (Cheryl), Lynnwood, WA, Cathy Ann Lubovich (Roger), Bainbridge Island, WA, Terri Drexler, (Robert),Shelton, WA, John D. Michels (Pamela) Randolph, WI, Paul N. Michels (Therese) Kent, WA, James B. Michels, Seattle, WA, and Constance M. Michels, White Rock, NM. She had 25 grandchildren and 42 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, John (2016), her great-grandson, Isaiah (2019) and her sister, Charlotte Billow (2021).

Funeral to be held on August 1st, 1:00 PM at Our Lady of Fatima Church, 3327 S. Perry, Spokane, WA. Internment to follow, at Holy Cross Cemetery.

Arrangements entrusted to Cook Family Funeral Home of Bainbridge Island, WA.