Norman Gore

Norman Gore, 98, of Jefferson, died Sunday, January 22, 2017.

Funeral services were held Friday, January 27 at First Presbyterian Church in Jefferson with Rev. Gordon Moen officiating. “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” and “Satin Doll” were played by pianist, Keri Brooker. Interment was at the Jefferson Cemetery in Jefferson with graveside military rites given by the Iowa Army Honor Guard.

Norman Douglas Gore was born March 5,1918 in Jefferson, Iowa to Phleete and Byrde (Judy) Gore. He attended Jefferson schools until his high school graduation in 1936. He studied photography at the Kodak Institute in Rochester, N.Y.

Norman enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. He became an aerial photo gunner, flying over the Himalayan Mountains to photograph and aid in mapping where allied bombs could be dropped to aid the Chinese in their fight against Japan. He was part of the India-Burma, Central Burma and China campaigns, for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the American Defense Medal and the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal with three Bronze stars.

After the war, he lived in Chicago for many years where he was a portrait and advertising photographer. He married in 1969. During his wife’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, they relocated to Delavan, Wisconsin. After her death, he returned to Jefferson, where he lived until 2011 when he moved to Illahee Hills in Urbandale. He came to Jefferson in June of 2016, living at the Regency Park Nursing Home until his passing on January 22, 2017.

His later years were marked by friendships old and new in Jefferson and at Lake Robbins Ballroom, where he had a community of friends who loved Big Band music and dancing as much as he did.

Norman was preceded in death by his parents and his younger brother, Warren Y. Gore of St. Paul, Minn. He is survived by his dancing partner and long-time companion, Evelyn Shafer; his sister, Virginia Shelton of Greeley, Colo.; several nieces and nephews; as well as many good friends and neighbors from across the years.

Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home and Cremation Services, www.sliningerschroeder.com.