February 23, 1938 – July 30, 2024
Nora Lee Kerry, 86, went home to be with her Lord on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at Prairie Lakes Health Campus in Noblesville. This loving, creative, and spunky woman loved her family and friends, ice cream, and the color purple.
Nora Lee was preceded in death by her parents, Cyril and Roma (Rubright) Pflugh, and siblings Mary Blanche Kind, LaVerne Pflugh, and Reese Pflugh; and she is survived by Roy E. Kerry, her husband of almost 64 years; children Patti Ordower, Cheryl Kerry, Roger (Lora) Kerry, and Ryan (Erin) Kerry; grandchildren Rachel (Scott) Heck, Joe Ordower, Brennen (Nicole) Kerry, Brontë Giardina, Joshua Kerry, Sierra Kerry, Leah Kerry, and Madeline Kerry; great-granddaughter Evelyn Kerry; as well as adopted kids Seth Beloff and Jean Leather and many other family members and friends.
Nora Lee was born on February 23, 1938, and grew up on her parent’s farm in Harmony, Pa. Graduating from Zelienople High School, she went on to the School of Nursing at Butler County Memorial Hospital, becoming a registered nurse in 1959 and working at John Kane Memorial Hospital in Pittsburgh. She married her high-school sweetheart, Roy, at the Ellwood City Church of God in Pennsylvania in 1960, and she began working at the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. In 1964, she left nursing to create an amazing childhood for their four children, with many pets and adventures.
The family moved to Sharon, Pa., in 1970 and began attending the Valley Church in Hermitage, where she played the piano and organ and taught Sunday School. Nora Lee was a Girl Scout Leader, and she was active in the Parent-Teacher Association for her children’s schools. With Roy, she was a member of The Gideons International for several decades, and Nora Lee specialized in distributing Bibles to the offices of doctors and attorneys. They also went on mission trips to Kenya, Tanzania, and Honduras with church groups. When her children grew more independent, Nora Lee ran a health food store, Harmony Whole Foods, in Sharon, Pa. Following that, she returned to nursing and worked with Roy at his medical practice until their retirement.
Together with Roger, Lora, Patti and several grandchildren, Roy and Nora Lee moved to Noblesville in 2019, and they all managed to live successfully in the same house with three generations! For the past four years Nora Lee has been a member of Bethel Lutheran Church of Noblesville. When her dementia became too much to care for at home in 2021, she moved to Prairie Lakes Health Campus where she received excellent and loving care, and the family is grateful to her wonderful caregivers there.
Visitation will be from 2 to 3 p.m., with a memorial service at 3 p.m., on Saturday, August 17, 2024, at Bethel Lutheran Church, 20650 Cumberland Road, Noblesville. Pastor Doug Gast will officiate.
Following the service, the family is hosting a dinner in the Fellowship Hall at Bethel where we can share stories of Nora Lee.
Condolences: randallroberts.com
If you wish to remember Nora Lee with a donation, you are welcome to give in her memory to The Gideons International at Gideons.org/donate.