Norma Zank Desprez died on Sunday, April 25, 2010, at home with her family. She had suffered a stroke in early March.

Norma Irmilla Zank was born on May 20, 1920 to Herman and Johanna (Kuehn) Zank in the Town of Otter Creek, Eau Claire County. The entry in her father's diary for May 21 reads, "Baby cried all night." Norma said she cried so loud that women's suffrage was granted three months later. She grew up on her parent's farm and attended Yule School and St. John's Lutheran Church in Hay Creek. She graduated from Lincoln Hill High School in nearby Osseo in 1938 and attended State Teachers College in Eau Claire. In her sophomore year, before World War II, Norma interrupted her education to accept employment in Washington, D.C. There she met Louis Willoughby Desprez. They were married on January 28, 1944 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Greenville, South Carolina, where Louis was stationed at the Greenville Army Air Base.

They returned to Eau Claire after the war. Norma took a job at the Wisconsin Department of Taxation. While helping Louis raise their two sons Louis and Joel, she worked in the law office of a State Senator and retired as a Vice President of Dadco Diversified. In the 1970s Norma resumed her studies at UW-Eau Claire, graduating cum laude in 1983, with a political science major. Norma served on the Wisconsin National Organization for Women Task Force on Women and Religion, as a tireless advocate, in the early days of the second wave of the women's rights movement. She was also a founding mother and incorporator of Bolton Refuge House.

Norma and Louis were members of St. John's Lutheran Church in Eau Claire where she regularly participated in the music program. In the 1960s, as director of the Junior Choir, she instilled a love of music in a generation of St. John's children.

Norma was a three-time cancer survivor. She baked a mean batch of cookies.

After Louis' death in 1995, she began to write. Norma published two books. Her poems have appeared in various publications, and she has been active in readings sponsored by area arts organizations: the Wisconsin Arts Board, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the American Association of University Women, White Pines Poets readings, and at private parties. Norma hosted her friends and fellow writers at monthly gathering in her sunroom that came to be called the Porch Poets. She has appeared as a poet on Wisconsin Public Radio and Community TV in Eau Claire.

Norma was preceded in death by her husband; and her parents; her brother, Elmer Zank; and her sister, Verna Vaillette.

She is survived by her son, Louis Paul Desprez; daughter-in-law, Brenda Mulry and their daughter, in-law, Judi Moseley and her children, Cari, Joe, Tom, and Bob. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Beverly Zank; nieces and nephews; a lifetime of friends; the FIFIs, and Splotchy, her beloved cat companion.

The family wishes to thank the rehab staffs at Sacred Heart Hospital, Dove Healthcare South and St. Joseph's Hospital Hospice for their kindness and their valor; not only in our mother's case, but every day. God bless you.

There will be a visitation for family and friends on Thursday April 29 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Fuller Speckien Hulke Funeral Home, 3209 Rudolph Road, Eau Claire WI 54701.

Funeral Service will be Friday at 11 a.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church, 1804 Highland Ave., Eau Claire with visitation one hour prior at church. The Rev. Jeanny House and The Rev. Nate Aaseng will officiate. Burial will be at St. John's Cemetery.

Memorials to Bolton Refuge House or WHYS Radio are preferred by the family.

Fuller Speckien Hulke Funeral Home is assisting the family.

Friends may offer online condolences at www.fullerspeckien.com.

"I would not live too long and cause you pain. So when I die please cry or I have lived in vain." Epitaph by Norma Desprez.