Jean (Kohl) Norton

Jean Elaine Norton, 80, formerly of Lisbon, died March 21, 2015, in California. Graveside service 11:00 a.m. Friday, May 15, 2015, at Lisbon Cemetery by Reverend Thomas Mattson. Arrangements are with Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Mount Vernon. Surviving Jean are her children; Cynthia Putnam and Mark Norton, both of California, two sisters; Lucille Zerbee of Cedar Rapids and Lois Baxa of Lisbon. She was preceded in death by her parents. Jean was born June 3, 1934, on a farm in rural Lisbon, Iowa the daughter of Maurice Samuel and Vera Mildred (Dickey) Kohl. She graduated from Lisbon High School in 1951, at the top of her class, and went to work at Iowa National Insurance Company in Cedar Rapids where she met her future husband, Allen Norton. They were wed on May 14, 1955, and began their new family in 1957 with the birth of their daughter, Cynthia and in 1958 the birth of their son, Mark. She quit work to stay home and raise their family. They made their homes in Iowa, Illinois, California and Colorado. She was later divorced from Allen and moved home to Iowa in 1983. Jean resumed her working career in 1984 working for National Computer Systems processing Pell Grant applications and then for Toyota Financial Services in 1992 processing lease and loan applications. Jean retired from Toyota in 2001 and settled into fixing up her home and visiting with her sisters in person and by phone. Jean returned to California in November of 2014, staying at her daughter's home while she underwent proton cancer treatment for lung cancer, but lost her battle when it spread to her brain. She is now at home in Heaven, reunited with her parents, awaiting the arrival of the rest of her family.