Norma Black Hinkson

Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe — memories gives back life to those who have passed on. Memories warm you up from the inside.

Treasured Memories and Thoughts About Norma:

Greg Hinkson (Son)

• Dancing around the Christmas tree as a family.
• Eating caramel yogurt and sunny delight with mom after early morning paper route.
• Digging a huge hole in the back yard with Marty and filling it with water. Mom laughed and hosed us off after we played in the mud.
• Mom made a Ponce DeLeon outfit for me with my GI Joe for a school project.
• Mom had almost as much fun as me and Scott throwing parachute GI Joes off the Big Orange Balloon in Irvine.
• Kelly and I loved birthday lunch dates with Mom at South Coast Plaza.

Diane Hansen (Daughter)

• Mother loved everyone no matter who you were, you were perfect in her eyes.
• The two most important things in moms life were the gospel of Jesus Christ and her family. Nothing else mattered.
• Once I lost a very expensive necklace of hers and I felt terrible about it. She said,"Don't worry it's just a thing" She lives her everyday life with an eternal perspective.
• Mom loved watching Lawrence Welk every Saturday night. She especially loved watching it with Dave because they would sing the songs together.
• Dave once asked mom, "how have you dealt with the pain when you are running?" She said, "I Just run through it
• Mom always ended our phone calls with "Bye bye for now.
• At the age of 93 mom said “I’ve decided that it doesn’t matter how fast you go, it just matters that you go.”
• She was driving my kids to school and there was a dip in the road and she just blazed through it, all the kids flew out of their seat and hit the ceiling. But, as they were screaming, they said - grandma do it again!
• Mother read her scriptures everyday- it was very important to her.

Kelly Hinkson (Daughter in Law - Greg's Wife)

• My kids could all crack an egg proficiently at 2 years old because grandma would make cookies with them every time they came over.
• Daniel loved her marble set as a little guy and every time he came over he would ask to play “Narbles” and she would sit on the floor and play with him as long as he was interested.
• She always had whirly gigs and parachute guys to play when my boys visited
• She always had a stash of crafts to play with the kids when they came over.
• Jello eggs.
• I learned about Cayenne pepper for bleeding, honey for burns and a potato for bruises from her. Now I have cayenne pepper in my emergency kit. I tell everyone I know about how magical those remedies are.
• She taught me to make bread and make jam. She was my go to resource for appropriate substitutions if I didn’t have a needed ingredient.
• My children used to love to look for a special treat she’d hide in the pockets of her Christmas tree skirt.
• My children and grand children LOVED to make gingerbread houses with her! My friends could not believe she baked a gingerbread house for each grandchild. Then she would decorate with them. Such treasured memories.
• I treasured each crocheted baby blanket she made them.
• Whenever the subject of mother in laws came up in conversation my input was always, “I lucked out in the mother in law Departmemt. I have never felt judged or criticized by her. She has only ever been kind, supportive and living toward me.” Example: one of my toddlers was having a rip snorting meltdown at a family event. I was exhausted and embarrassed. I wasn’t sure my parenting technique was right and I was ready to cry. She just came up and said, “you’re doing a good job!” It calmed my heart and gave me the encouragement to continue.

Jayne Stowell Monson (Grand-Daughter, via Barbie and Ray)

• Hanging out with Grandma every day.
• Eating oatmeal with her, going to store to get crafts to make.
• Ironing grandpas shirts.
• Starting dinner at 3pm so it was ready at 5pm.
• Funny story from Barbie (Jayne's Mom): Jayne was 3 years old and Grandma was putting on her makeup, Jayne asked gma what she was doing. Grandma replied “this hides my wrinkles”. Later on in the morning, Jayne looked at her and said “Grandma, that stuff doesn’t work very well does it”
• Again from Barbie: And when Jayne was very young, and had just started talking, I’d take her to gma’s in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon. Almost daily when I’d pull up, she looked and me and said “you bye bye, me grandmas”.

Kendra Stowell Waldram (Grand-Daughter, via Barbie and Ray)

• Making endless amounts of cookies with her.
• Grandma would walk them to school every day.
• Grandma was always up for dancing, sitting up on Santa lap, doing donuts on a string, staying up late making puff paint shirts. Making gingerbread houses and waffles with them.

Jennifer Stowell Youngkin (Grand-Daughter, via Barbie and Ray)

• Grandma worked so hard to make me who I am today. When I was in elementary school she would take me to and pick me up from school, and we would each have 1 popsicle. Then we would sit down and do my homework. She was very patient with me. Then I could go out to play.
• In middle school, she’d still take me to and pick me up from school. One day we were driving home, just leaving the school. She gave the car in front of us a little love bump. I remembered being a little embarrassed, but we had a good laugh afterwards.
• In high school, roles changed a little bit, and I started driving grandma around.
• When I was in college, we would do Friday morning breakfast and oftentimes she would experiment with new breakfast ideas, and there was always a good story that accompanied our breakfast.
• Because I deemed myself her favorite, she was proud to share her wedding date with me. Each year we would celebrate our anniversary (January 17) together, with a phone call or lunch, etc.

Katy Catellano (Grand-Daughter, via Barbie and Ray)

• You say Grandma - I say Cookies.
• Grandma taught me how to read, we would read the Word Bird Books. She would love it when I brushed her hair and often fall asleep while I was doing it. (But she wouldn't admit to that.)
• We had to each every single thing on our plate at every meal. She would always make homemade bread, and we would peanut butter and honey on it.
• She would walk us to school every day, and would always be there to pick us up. Katy, Keira and Erica.
• In high school on late start days, I’d bring my friends over and we had breakfast with her and she loved it.
• She loved any chance to cook for someone.

Ray Stowell (Son-In-Law, Barbie's Husband)

• Mom would get a kick out of testing her jam recipes on me. We had a discussion about how to make jam. She said you could make jam out of other things other than fruit and I said no way. I said you can’t make jam out of anything but fruit. A few weeks went by, and she had homemade bread and strawberry jam on the table, and we were just enjoying homemade bread. Oh, she was staring at me and I was wondering why it was mom staring at me and nobody else so she says “do you like it” and I said of course I like it. This is great strawberry jam and she grinned from ear to ear and said it’s not strawberry jam. I said It is strawberry jam, and I like it. What else could it be and she got the greatest biggest grin on your face again and said it’s tomatoes. I thought tomatoes no way this could be tomatoes and she started laughing. She says yeah it’s tomatoes and jello. I said you’re using me as a guinea pig. She said Yep and you liked it.
• Mom had a very special way of giving Christmas gifts. one year she gave me some socks, but the socks were sewn together like long John’s, buttoned down the middle. It was very cute and to this day I thought that was very special for her to give it to me in that special way. It was probably 35 years ago. I still have those socks on together a little man in my closet in my drawer.

Barbie Stowell Hinkson (Daughter)

My mother is like no other
Youthful in spirit and true love for one another
Making sure everyone was taken care of before thinking of herself
Oh, except when out walking, she put that on the shelf
The vacation songs that we would sing
Her family was her everything
Every moment, happiness she'd bring
Rest in Peace our mother dear, so grateful for our memories, and you will always be here.

Daniel Hinkson (Grand-Son, via Wynn and Judy)

• You can't help but feel loved by Grandma! From cookies, to popcorn, to quilts, she always gave love. I loved my last visit with her, learning of her siblings during World War II. What a wonderful example she was of kindness, generosity, and love!

Sharon Hinkson (Daughter-In-Law, Married to Marty)

• One year Mom and I made cookie bouquets for holidays. We did Halloween, Christmas, & Easter. They took a lot of time and she would say, "You are the brains and I am the brawn". I came up with designs, she made dough & baked the cookies on skewers. Then we glazed, sugared, and I piped details. Then we arranged them in mugs for gifts! Lots of work but lots of fun!!

Erica O'Neill (Grand Daughter via Marty and Sharon)

• One childhood memory is sharing her delicious homemade grape juice! I loved it and it made her so happy that I loved it so much.
• And more recently, when we lived at her house, while my husband was deployed, she would always have time to read a book or two or three with Kai. They would put puzzles together & bake cookies. He still talks about it and told his teacher all about his great grandma and how much he loves her.

Kiera Brandon-Herrscher (Grand Daughter via Marty and Sharon)

• One of my favorite memories was picking fresh boysenberries in the back yard at the beginning of every summer with grandma. We then brought them inside and enjoyed them on vanilla ice cream. It was delicious every time!

Kent Hinkson (Son)

• I remember Mom, Wynn, and I going in the car with Mom somewhere in the Anaheim 3rd ward boundaries to take a meal to someone that needed the meal, on a Sunday. (I don't remember anything about the other kids, maybe they were home with Dad.) As we started out, Mom said that the van was low on gasoline, and that she wasn't sure we would make it where we needed to go and back home before running out of gas. As I understood this idea that we might be stranded, I urged Mom to buy gasoline immediately at the gas station. She said, "We don't buy things on Sunday because Sunday is the Sabbath Day and if we buy things on the Sabbath, we are making other people work, and it's a commandment to not work on the Sabbath." So, we didn't buy gas. We did deliver the meal, and we did run out of gas, and we were stranded several miles from home. Mom parked the car on the side of a road, we walked home, and the next day, we walked back with a gasoline can, and drove the car home. We did keep the Sabbath holy.
• I remember one morning when Mom needed to drive somewhere and was going to take all the kids with her in the car. But, she didn't find the car keys where they normally would be. She searched and searched and had us search with her for the keys, but they couldn't be found. So, she asked all of us kids to join her in prayer. We kneeled down and prayed to Heavenly Father that He would direct us to where the car keys were. As we got off our knees, Mom went to the clothes hamper (it had three sections, for dark clothes, light clothes, and colored clothes). She dumped the clothes out and in there in the dark section the keys came out with the clothes. God had put in her mind to look in the clothes hamper.

  I have followed this tactic the rest of my life, God always knows where things are.

• For many years, while we were really little, Mom would read to us in her big bed - Dad was in either at night school or working a night job during those years, so it was only Mom and the kids in the house. She would read several books and then fall asleep, and we would have to wake her up, to keep her reading.

Wynn Hinkson (Son)

• Learning that Mom had a sweet tooth has been one of the most fun things I've experienced with her, lately. Eating Twinkies brought back memories of her as a child eating a twinky while walking downtown with her mom. But, dark chocolate brought out mischievous smiles, like she was eating something that must always be a secret.

Gretchen - Granddaughter (via Kent and Kim/Melony)

• This was a text from Gretchen (who lives in Northern California) to her Dad Kent on Feb 21, 2023: Hi, I am at grandmas in Southern Cal. We ate Swedish pancakes for breakfast and have been playing games with grandma, Hank and Ellie!!! Love you. My reply, Lucky You.

Judy Thatcher - Daughter-in-Law (previously married to Wynn)

• One of the tender memories I have is from before Wynn and I were married and Norma welcomed me into the family and helped me prepare for my sealing to Wynn by taking me aside privately and teaching me about the temple ceremony. I felt her love as we spent those special moments together. She became my mother-in-law but took on the role of my mother at important times.
• Another tender memory that is in my journal is of a time I was at Ken and Norma's home and I had wanted to speak to Norma about something that was weighing on my mind. I had prayed that I could get her alone, but my two young boys Chris and Michael were acting up and so we were getting ready to leave and I figured I would not be able to speak with her.

  Norma followed a prompting to walk with me to the car and my prayer was answered as we spoke. I wrote in my journal about how I loved her and could see us becoming best friends. I am so grateful for the positive influence Norma has had on my life and the example she has been of love, kindness, service and a positive zest for life.

Kathy Hinkson (Cousin - Uncle Roland  and Aunt Faye's Daughter)

• When I was a kid I lived with my uncle Kenny and aunt Norma for about a month. During that time, Greg had taken the hose and sprayed some mattresses that were on the patio. I came out and told Greg that he was a bad boy for doing that and my aunt Norma came out and corrected me and told me that none of her children were bad and that sometimes they do things that are naughty but they are never bad. I never forgot that and utilized that philosophy my whole life in raising my children and in my counseling practice. So that one lesson that she taught me was spread to many people.

Scirocco N Amore Toelupe

There are just some people that are sent to earth to learn from. I’ve known Norma Hinkson for 43 of my 45 years of life. My fondest memories are of her serving and loving others. In the 80s when we were in the Garden Grove 8th ward, David (her “son”) was right beside her in the church library serving us. She was a great friend and walking buddy (walked 3 miles a day for nearly 50 years) to my aunty Sa and her friends.

I asked Norma several years ago what keeps her healthy and young and she said, “I walk and then drink my shake every morning (she had the original Vitamix on her counter).” She said I put everything in my shake (whatever fruits and veggies I have in the fridge). I guess I should’ve listened more closely to the 85 year old at the time. This description of her by a son was spot on:

“She was a servant. Loving and she had an uncritical heart, a pure and sanctified heart.” ❤️I’m so glad I saved her final act of service to me (she was the Relief Society birthday greeting angel). She left the following bday voicemail for me on July 20, 2022 at 95 years old. Thank you Sis. Norma Hinkson!

https://www.dropbox.com/.../bday%20voicemail%20Sis...

Laura Fountain Haefele (Friend)

Awww loved her so much. I remember when I come over to pick up Diane in the morning and she'd always make sure that I had a piece of her delicious wheat bread. She would say you have to have something in your stomach.❤️Thank goodness for the Plan of Salvation.

Hank Heister (Friend)

Knowing the Hinkson family for decades we have seen the quality in how Norma raised/influenced her children. Kent is a perfect example of the influence that Norma has had... Angels are celebrating her arrival!!