Norma Vermeulen passed away peacefully on Saturday April 22nd, 2017.  She was born October 20th, 1927 in Billings Montana to Lawerence and Helen Dunn.   Her younger years were in spent in various parts of Montana.  She attended school in Harlowton, and later moved to Bozeman where she worked for Bell Telephone as an operator.  In 1960, she married Steve Vermeulen which started the journey to their life long home of Washington State.  Steve and Norma were blessed with two beautiful children from previous marriages, Pat Cross and Jim Vermeulen who were the focal point of their lives together. Norma was always known as a hard and diligent worker. She held a variety of retail positions in the historic Tri-Cities era, which included the Bootery, and Ken and Rita’s Apparel.  Her career path changed when she went to work at the Hanford site, she was the first female technician at the Tank Farms, and assumed other roles over her long and successful career at Hanford.  She retired at the age of 70 as a Nuclear Engineer.  Norma had the gift of being able to balance her demanding career with her undying passion of her family. She always loved spending time with her family. Her most rewarding role was to raise her grandson, Tim Evans after the passing of her daughter Pat.

Norma was famous for her domestic attention to detail, when you walked into her home, you were always greeted with an impeccably clean house, and mouthwatering aroma of her culinary skills, her signature dish was her oxtail soup, where you would ask for seconds or thirds and come back the next day for leftovers. When Norma wasn’t in her kitchen she loved going out to eat.  She was known on a first name basis at some of the Tri-Cities’ Pizza establishments, as well as Red Lobster, and Sterlings where I’m sure she gave the cooks some of her culinary tips.

Steve and Norma made their home in the Tri-Cities, but were well known for there passion to move, they lived in many, many, many and many more homes in the area. The usual requirement was that it had to have horse property, as to fuel their other passion of raising and showing Thoroughbred Quarter horses. Norma was known for her ability to spot a good horse and has many Grand National Champion trophies to acknowledge her skill.  Second to many homes was the desire for always having a different car, just like the houses it was hard to keep tally on the latest car.  In her spare time she was never known to turn down the chance to play cards with family and friends, and loved it when she won, and part of her strategy was to have lots of candy at the card table. Norma was a caring and loving person who will be greatly missed  by her family and friends. We all feel blessed to have had Norma in our lives. Norma is survived by her husband Steve (Richland), Sister Blanche Nielsen(Bozeman MT), Brother and sister law, Jim and Eileen Dunn (Battleground WA), Joe and Terry Dunn (Richland) ,grandsons, Tim Evans (Kennewick), Tim Vermeulen (Los Angeles CA) , Daughter in law, Holly Vermeulen ( Tampa FL), as well as numerous nephews and nieces.  She was preceded in death by her daughter Pat, son Jim, sisters Betty, Shirley and Joyce.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, April 29th at 12:30 at Einan's Funeral Home in Richalnd at Sunset Chapel.

She will be laid to rest at the Benton City Cemetery following the memorial service.