Former Stoney Creek Citizen of Year remembered as passionate volunteer

Norma Brown is being remembered as a passionate volunteer who also helped her late husband Donald turn his namesake funeral home into a pillar of Stoney Creek's business community.

Named Stoney Creek's Citizen of the Year in 1992, Norma, aged 96, died peacefully at home Oct. 4, a little more than eight months after the passing of her husband of 71 years. He was 92.

They leave behind daughter Donna and son Craig, sister Margaret, four grandchildren, and six grandkids.

She always had a twinkle in her eye and a smile for everyone who greeted her," Ward 10 Coun. Maria Pearson said of Norma.

She was truly passionate in everything she got involved in. Her caring ways shone through good and tough times. If anything frazzled her, she never let it show."

Brown's 1992 citizen award feted her many volunteering hats, included for Meals on Wheels, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and Gospel for Asia.

She'd also been a volunteer driver for cancer patients receiving treatment at St. Joseph Urgent Care Centre.

Patti Hall, executive director of the Stoney Creek Chamber of Commerce, said she only met Norma once, at the 2018 Citizen of the Year gala, the last one Norma and Donald were able to attend.

Until then, both Browns were always at the annual gala, with Donald V. Brown Funeral Home sponsoring the award, she said.

They were super community-minded people," Hall said, noting they also sponsored the Stoney Creek Santa Claus Parade.