IN MEMORIAM—Norma Dever (1933–2018)
Norma Dever (July 12, 1933-June 7, 2018)
My 
dear friend Norma passed from this life on the morning of June 7. She was an amazing person. Though greatly infirmed through her last months, she held firm to her passions and opinions. Gravelly of voice but sweet and loving of spirit she remained alert to news of (and from) her many ASOR and Albright friends, and like a mother hen she still brooded over the affairs of the Albright Institute where she had lived and worked, and for which as a Trustee she had spearheaded fundraising efforts for many decades.
Through these past months, as I visited her at the Mountain View Care Center in Tucson, she was want to introduce me as “a friend for over 60 years”, close enough I think to be considered “family”. We met first at Harvard in 1960, she then a pastor’s (i.e. Bill’s) wife and fine hostess. Later in Israel, we worked together as part of the Phase I Core Staff at Gezer, and from 1971, when Bill became Director at the Albright, and I stepped in at HUC, our families were among the ex-patriot residents in Jerusalem. Then, and through these many years since, Norma has been one of my daughter Kariman’s “other mothers”. With her and Bill we shared the loss of their beloved son Sean.
Norma was in all things faithful and dependable, in all ways expending her skills and talents with determination and loving care. She helped make my retirement move to Tucson a homecoming. I stood vigil at her bed side with my daughter and family, to say our goodbyes on the evening of her passing. She will be sorely missed by all her many friends, and most especially by those in the ASOR and Albright families.
Written by Joe D. Seger
- Click here to download a PDF copy of “They Also Dug: Archaeologists’ Wives and Their Stories” from Near Eastern Archaeology (67.3).
- to access the NEA article on JSTOR for free.