NORMA JEAN (WALKER) BALE

 Norma W. “Jeanie” Bale of Victoria, 78, beloved sister, aunt, great-aunt, great-great-aunt, and friend, passed away February 26, 2018.  She was born at home, on the Louie Walker Bay View Farm, in the Long Mott community on October 25, 1939 to Louie and Myrtle Walker. 

Jeanie worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for over 30 years, starting as a secretary. She was one of the self-named “60’s Chicks.” Those were the women who worked at NASA in the 60’s when so much history was being made. She worked directly with all the astronauts on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs in the Payload Integration office.  Later she worked with the first of the Space Shuttle programs. She eventually worked her way up to Director of Correspondence.  As such, she established protocols and procedures and vetted all official correspondence between all NASA sites.

Although our Jeanie never had children of her own, it seems we were all her children at one time or another. She helped her father, Louie, maintain the family farm for many years. She and her late husband Norman were active members of the Victoria Boulevard Lions Club for decades. She was a founding member of the Victoria chapter of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees. However, she was so much more.

Jeanie was the traveler, the communicator, the straw boss, the one who kept the distant members of our family connected, the photographer, the filmmaker, the joker, the friend. She was a kind and generous person. We are all richer for having loved her, and for being loved by her.

She is survived by her sisters, Linda W. Campbell and Elizabeth W. Odom; brother, Tom Walker; step-daughters Regina Bale, Paula Eaton, and Kathy Richman; step-son Roger Bale; 25 nieces and nephews and numerous great-nieces and great-nephews. 

Jeanie was preceded in death by her husbands, D.W. Hickman and Norman Bale; parents; sisters, Mary W. Rice, Patsy W. Canary and brothers, Robert Vance Walker, Donald Ray Walker and William King “Bill” Walker.  At Jeanie’s request, there will be no funeral services.

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