Norma Gaydos

MANSFIELD -- Norma LaRue Gaydos, 81, surrendered to the Lord's call Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. Memorials: Cook Children's Hospital, 801 Seventh Ave., Fort Worth, Texas 76104. Norma was born Jan. 14, 1926, in South Bend, Ind., the daughter of Harry and Ernestine Sellers Lambert and the stepdaughter of George Wilmot. Norma was a volunteer for various charitable organizations and was a children's storyteller on the radio in her youth. She loved her early teen years, reading books to children in the hospitals in South Bend. She studied speech therapy at the University of Iowa. Norma met her loving husband at a USO dance, and shortly thereafter, on Mar. 23, 1946, in Cambridge, Mass., married Peter F. Gaydos, a young ensign in the U.S. Navy. Norma and Pete shared a devoted 60 years together. Norma was a dedicated homemaker and loving mother of her daughter, Vicki, and son, Kent. She always displayed her magnetic personality and charming wit, enjoyed by all who knew her. Norma's husband preceded her in going home to the Lord on Dec. 6, 2006. She was also preceded in death by her only brother, Don Lambert of Houston. Survivors: Norma will be forever remembered with love by her daughter, Vicki Dowd and husband, Dennis; son, Kent Gaydos and wife, Pamela; grandchildren, David Dowd and wife, Micheline, Lori Dowd Miles and husband, Randy, Brittany and Bryan Gaydos; great-grandchildren, Trinity and Avery Miles, Drake and Brynn Dowd; sisters-in-law, Louise Gaydos, Ludy McFall and Marge Lambert; and many nieces, nephews and friends. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Norma Gaydos please visit our Sympathy Store.