Hilda "Jean" (Sheffer) Norberg

Hilda “Jean” Norberg slipped peacefully into eternity Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022. Born in a log cabin in Prescott, Michigan, in 1930, Jean spent her early years on her family farm. In 1942 she moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where she met and later married Ralph Norberg. She worked as a secretary at Western Advantage Insurance, General Motors, and Wever Elementary School. An active and devoted volunteer, she served multiple roles in various volunteer organizations including the PTA, the United Methodist Women’s Society, and as a Coordinator for Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child was a special passion. She not only coordinated the project for her church, but purchased items for boxes throughout the year and personally contributed hundreds of boxes over the years. Jean enjoyed dancing, taking ballroom and line dancing lessons at various points throughout her life, and spent countless weekends camping, making s’mores, singing campfire songs, playing euchre, and serving her special potato salad. Her main hobbies, however, revolved around service to others: cooking large meals and baking for her family, helping loved-ones with house renovation projects, and perhaps most famously, crocheting afghans for new babies. Her proudest achievement is her beautiful family, who she devoted her life to serving. One of her mottos was to “leave it better than you found it,” which she applied not only to things, but people. Whether after a meal with multiple desserts, a trip to visit where she wall-papered the whole house, or an encouraging card in the mail, she always left people better than she found them. Left better because of Jean are her children: Roger (Cheryl) Norberg, Janis (Steve) Duncan, Gary (Martha) Norberg; sisters-in-law Arline Sheffer and Betty Norberg, eleven grandchildren: Erica (Bob) Horyza, Laura Jean (Matt) Baarts, Lindsey (AJ) Lafferty, Brian Duncan, Scott (Callie) Duncan, Rebecca Norberg, Dorothy Norberg, Erik Norberg, Andrei Norberg, Matthew Norberg, and Lydia Norberg; and nine great-grandchildren: Gibson, Winsor Jean, Evie, Charlie, Henley, London, Whitacre, Sullivan, and Joelle Jean. Jean was preceded in death by her beloved husband of sixty-two years, Ralph. The family will receive visitors at Coats Funeral Home on Thursday, May 5, 2022 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Her funeral service will take place at Coats on Friday, May 6, 2022 at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Operation Christmas Child, a project very close to Jean's heart. https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/the-greatest-journey/ 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Hilda "Jean" (Sheffer) Norberg, please visit our floral store.