Norah Grace Dooley Korn
Norah Grace Dooley Korn was born to Alma Lucile and John Loran Dooley on Dec. 14, 1932, in the small town of Creede, Colorado, and passed away Nov. 17, 2021, at her home in Kalispell.
Creede was located a few miles east of the Continental Divide at 8800 feet in elevation. The principal commerce centered on mining in hard rock underground tunnels for silver and gold that had attracted both German and Irish immigrants. So here was an extremely friendly Irish lass full of energy, vitality, humor and a bit of rascality within what might be termed a hard working and exhausting culture. Her presence while growing up was so notable to the residents that, years later when she married in 1958, literally the whole town showed up to celebrate her wedding and especially her reception. They all remembered and wanted once again to be involved in the fun and action of this special, exuberant youth. Even those still living today often remember and smile.
Norah’s father died when she was age 2 so she and her two older brothers all grew up helping their mother do the chores to support the family. They helped raise and butcher chickens and rabbits, take the milk cow back and forth to pasture, process milk and butter for sale, haul water by the barrel in a one-horse cart from the community well to their $15 dollar home up the hill, and cut and split wood and haul coal for heat. Any avenue of work was acceptable and necessary, like hiring out to work on a local dude ranch or recreation business or help in maintenance and cleaning the vacation homes of the affluent Denver mining crowd. Waitressing to the hunting and fishing crowd at the small hotel restaurant for good tips was also a big part of life as she grew older.
After high school she and several girlfriends ventured to Denver. Norah began employment as a nanny and household servant to several well established Denver businessmen’s families and began employment as a switchboard operator at the telephone company with her eyes always riveted to the “job of a lifetime” as a stewardess for United Airlines. She easily passed the requirements, but only by relaxing her knees to get under the maximum height allowed. A few years later she transferred from San Francisco to Seattle on a whim to explore horizons and one day was assigned to work a red-eye flight from Seattle to Chicago and met and later married a passenger on that night flight. That’s another story.
Norah, with Jim, moved back to the Flathead to live and raise their family in a small mountain town rather than a big metropolitan city. Her Irish spunk fit right in as she raised her four children and gave every room in the house her special touch. She encouraged all activity and joined in to the delight of her children. She eventually taught the Montgomery Ward Charm School for young girls using the experience from her modeling jobs in Seattle, and worked occasionally in retail women’s clothing. Everyone sought her fun-loving and uplifting personality. She was invited to join the P.E.O. Sisterhood, which she enjoyed thoroughly. As time moved on she used her natural talent in visual ability and color sense to paint a great quantity of art work in floral paintings, landscapes, and many tole painted household objects. What has not been sold becomes a cherished legacy to her family.
She leaves behind in this life her husband of more than 63 years, James H. Korn, four children and spouses, Kevin James Korn, Jeffrey John Korn, and twin daughters, Kristy Ann Wolf and Kerry Kathleen Douge, the memories of nine grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and many fond nieces and nephews to take on, within the providence of God, what her life in Christ promises.
Services will be held Dec. 2 at 1 p.m. at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 605 South Main Street in Kalispell, followed by interment at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery, 641 Conrad Drive, Kalispell, and reception in the Hollensteiner Room at the Northwest Montana History and Central School Museum, 124 Second Avenue East, Kalispell.
Darlington Burial Services is helping the family.