February 23, 1938 – July 30, 2024
Nora Lee Kerry, 86, went home to be with her Lord on 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.
She 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, 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.
Born on February 23, 1938, in Harmony, Pa., Nora Lee grew up on her parents’ farm, learning to work hard with her family and have fun doing it – playing practical jokes on each other and doing flips down the staircase. Along with her parents, she and her siblings milked the cows, fed the chickens, tended the garden, and baled hay. They also cooked meals – but when she and Blanche dyed the mashed potatoes bright green for St. Patrick’s Day, the hired hands were very suspicious and refused to eat them. In the evenings, Nora Lee developed a serious competitive streak by playing games such as Crokinole (a.k.a. Carroms) with her family. One Easter, she and her siblings were given three bunnies that were supposed to be the same sex. They ended up with 158 rabbits that they raised in an empty chicken coop as a business.
Her family attended First Church of God in Ellwood City at the time of her birth, and that’s where she met Roy Kerry, her husband-to-be, and they began dating at age 16. After graduating from Zelienople High School, Nora Lee took nurses training at Butler County Memorial Hospital and became a registered nurse in 1959, first working at John Kane Memorial Hospital and then at Children’s Hospital, both in Pittsburgh. She and Roy married in August 1960 at Ellwood City Church of God and lived first in Pittsburgh and then in Washington, Pa., and they attended the Greenfield Avenue Church of God in Pittsburgh. In 1964, she left nursing to create an amazing childhood for their four children, with many pets and adventures. She also started and ran a preschool at the church for a number of years.
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.
Nora Lee enjoyed many activities at home, from tending her flower and vegetable gardens to supporting and facilitating all kinds of crazy escapades with her kids. They made ice cream every summer in their cabin at Whitehall Camp, and she created wonderful Halloween costumes – from basic cardboard contraptions to a full-on upright piano (Cheryl) and colonial belle dresses complete with shawls and bonnets (Patti and Cheryl). She passed on her love of games to her family, teaching them to play Crokinole, Pit, Buttons, and Spoons. (Ask us why it’s not called “Forks”!)
When her children grew more independent, Nora Lee ran a health food store called 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.
The service will be livestreamed on Bethel’s Facebook page for those who cannot attend, (facebook.com/BethelLutheranChurchNoblesville), and will be available sometime after the service on Vimeo.
If you wish to remember Nora Lee with a donation, she suggested giving in her memory to The Gideons International (gideons.org/donate).
Condolences: randallroberts.com