Shrewsbury – Norma A. (Persson) Belden died unexpectedly Saturday, Feb. 6, 2015 at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, with her family by her side. She was 89.
Born Oct. 12, 1926 in Boston, she was one of two children of the late Per J. and Anna V. (Fasth) Persson. Raised in East Boston, she attended East Boston High School. After her mother’s early death when Norma was only 15, she stayed at home to help her father and brother.
She married her first husband, Carl W. Hanson, in 1956, and they called Dedham home until his passing at 41 in 1969. It was her love of dancing that led her to go to a dance at the Viking Club in Braintree where she would meet Robert D. Belden. They would marry April 24, 1976 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Dedham, and then move to Shrewsbury, her new home.
Norma was most proud of her Swedish heritage. She was a member of the Viking Club in Braintree since 1965, Vasa Order for over 50 years, Nordic Lodge of Worcester, and Sovittaja Park in Rutland, where she was very active in the kitchen. She and Robert enjoyed Scandinavian dancing, traveling, especially to Sweden to visit friends and relatives where she could converse in Swedish and enjoy accordion concerts. Some of her fondest memories were of dancing the Hambo at SAC Park to Nils Lundin’s orchestra.
In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her brother Per Henry Persson.
She leaves her husband, Robert; her children, Carl W. Hanson Jr. of Shrewsbury and Karlyn M. Janson and her husband Neil of Warwick, R.I.; two grandchildren, Ross and Eric Janson; two great-grandchildren, Eric D. Moniz and Brady Janson, to whom she was known as Mormor; a sister-in-law, Eleanor Persson of Dedham; a nephew, John Persson and his family of Foxborough; and many other relatives both here and in Sweden, and friends everywhere.
Family and friends will honor and remember Norma’s life by gathering for calling hours Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 4-7 p.m., at Heald & Chiampa Funeral Directors – The Sumner House, 5 Church Road, On the Common, Shrewsbury Center, and again Thursday, Feb. 11 to celebrate her funeral service at 11 a.m. with a collation at Cyprian Keyes in Boylston. Burial will be private.
Honor Norma’s memory with a contribution to the Scandinavian Living Center, 206 Waltham St., Newton, MA 02465 or Finnish Heritage Society, Sovittaja – Scholarship Fund, 274 Bailey Rd., Holden, MA 01520.
