Norma Gail Briggs, 97, died Thursday, May 25, 2023 in Carthage, Texas. She most recently was a resident of Carthage Healthcare Center (CHC). Before she moved into CHC, she lived with Elizabeth and Jim Taylor and they were her primary healthcare givers.
Norma (Pinky to many friends), was born November 30, 1925 in Coffeyville, Kansas to Elmer and Sara (Froman) Morgan. She grew up in the Coffeyville area where she graduated from Field Kindley High School in 1942.
She married Francis Thompson in 1943 and they had one child together, Doris Louise. They divorced and he later passed away.
On August 24, 1951, she married Roger Max Briggs (Max) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The couple made their home in Coffeyville, Kansas and Max adopted Doris and they had 4 more children together. Max worked for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad until he retired. After Max passed away in 1994, she moved to Carthage Texas.
Her faith and being active in the church was very important. She was a member of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Coffeyville, Kansas and many summers organized its Vacation Bible School. She was also active at the state and national level and served as President of the WMU (Women’s Missionary Union) of the Southern Baptist Convention. The latter service resulted in many trips to the Glorieta Baptist Conference Center in Glorieta, New Mexico in which she brought her family who vacationed while she worked. After her move to Carthage, Texas, she was a member of the First Baptist Church in Carthage.
Besides being active in church activities, she loved to travel. Max and she had travel trailers and would use them to go across the country to visit family. They also went to Branson, Missouri many times. After Max passed away, she still traveled; sometimes alone but sometimes she would travel with a grandkid in tow and if there was Shoney’s around that is where they would have breakfast. As her grandchildren grew up, they sometimes included her in their travel adventures and she was treated to a wonderful vacation in Hawaii. With her love of travel, she took cruises with family to Alaska as well as the Caribbean and a fond memory is a picture of her in the Caribbean waters holding a stingray. Her daughters did many trips with her as special Mother’s Day outings that included going to Chicago, Colorado, New York, and even stomping grapes at a winery in Texas. She also took a trip to the Holy Lands as part of a tour group and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sites there.
Norma was an avid fisherwoman and spent many hours at the Taylor’s pond and many times a family member was with her. She especially loved trout fishing at White River in Arkansas. Other hobbies included making ceramics/pottery and quilting. Many of the ceramic pieces and quilts were made for her family. She also enjoyed spirited games of ‘42’ and it was best if you knew the rules because at times it seemed she would make up some while playing based on what some of her children would say. She was very competitive; to say the very least.
She also loved baseball and the Texas Rangers was her favorite team. Her family knew not to call her while she watching them play as she might yell in the phone if the Rangers did something she did not like. Her knowledge of the players and their stats was quite remarkable.
She was able to see the Rangers play in person several times and also with her daughters was able to go to Chicago and watch the Cubs play at Wrigley Field and go to New York to see the Yankees play at their original stadium in the Bronx. One of her favorite players early on was Sammy Sosa and she went to Arizona to watch spring baseball and got to see him play. Her love of baseball wasn’t just for the professionals as anytime she was in the Austin area; she would always love to take in a game to watch the Round Rock Express. You can tell, she liked to be active especially with her family.
She was preceded in death by her husband, her brothers and their spouses, Donald Morgan (Margie), Dr. Darold Morgan (Elizabeth), Harold Morgan (Lila), her only sister Doris Kendrick (Scott), daughter-in-law Deanna Briggs, and sons-in-law Elvis Allan and Jim Taylor.
She is survived by her children and their spouses, Doris and Dan Lyons of Granbury, Texas; Sarah and Jim Duncan of Crestview, Florida; John Briggs and Charlene D’Avanzo of Yarmouth, Maine; Elizabeth Taylor of Gary, Texas; and Mary and Allen Regehr of Liberty Hill, Texas; along with 10 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren, 10 great great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Her grandchildren/great grandchildren are widely dispersed from Arkansas, Arizona, Australia, Florida, Italy, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, and Texas and she always loved hearing from them or finding out what they were doing.
She will be greatly missed by her family and all who knew her. A graveside service will be held under the direction of Ford-Wulf-Bruns Chapel of Coffeyville at Restlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Coffeyville, Kansas on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at 2:00 pm. To leave a message of condolence, share a memory or view live streaming of the service under her obituary page visit www.fordwulfbrunschapel.com
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In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church Missions in Carthage (checks may be sent to First Baptist Carthage, PO Box 548, Carthage, Texas 75633 and designate it for their Mission in Norma’s name) or The Gideons International, www.gedeins.org/donate
