I want to share a very funny story about my Aunt Norma. My cousin Carol Lemley had a gorgeous Jesus wall grouping hanging in her dining room and when I saw it I knew I'd have to have it too. I just loved it! I was talking to Norma on the phone and telling her all about this beautiful grouping that I had ordered and told her it was the most awesome picture of Jesus that I had ever seen and that she would love it and she said "yes" she probably would. After I got done talking to her I called her back and asked her where she'd hang something that big since I already had her walls pretty much covered. She goes, I don't know where I'd put it but I'd take something down if I had too! Then she goes, but now DON'T you go buying that for me Marge or I'll have to turn you over my knee and paddle your butt and she laughed and had me laughing too! Of course I knew when I got off the phone that I was going to order it for her for Christmas. It came in early so I went on ahead and gave it to her so she'd enjoy it Thanksgiving Day. My brother Bobby Phillips hung it on her dining room wall for her and it looked beautiful in her gorgeous Victorian home there at 309 N. Marion Street in Carthage Ill. I had planned on getting her a real pretty fiber optic cross with Jesus but she passed away before Christmas so I wasn't able too. My sister Shirley was telling her the last time that we saw Norma on her deck when I went inside to get some pop all about this awesome fiber optic Jesus. Aunt Norma told Shirley she bet it was pretty but NOT to tell Marge because she'd go out and buy it for her! Ha!Ha! She told Shirley you have to be careful about telling Marge you like something because she'll see to it that you get it! Ha!Ha! Aunt Norma loved everything that I got for her but she said she thought "THE DOYLE SHELF" was her very favorite gift from me. I also got her a very pretty 47th Wedding Anniversary clock and had it engraved for her & Uncle Don. She really loved it alot. She told her kid's or anybody that would listen that I spoiled her rotten. One time I spent the night with Aunt Norma & Uncle Don and had to leave early to go to the Montebello Nursing Home in Hamilton Ill. because Grandma was expecting me that morning and I got up extra early and went around the Carthage square and saw this absolutely beautiful Welcome Birdhouse and bought it for Aunt Norma to surprise her. I sat it on her table in her dining room and I was told that when she came around the corner from the front room into the dining room that she put her hand to her mouth in total shock & excitement to see that on her table. She called her oldest daughter Wilma and said your not going to believe what that Marge did! Ha!Ha! I loved to take her by surprise like that. She NEVER once expected anything from me. I did it because I loved her and wanted to make her feel special. I had gotten Aunt Norma & Uncle Don the Hallmark singing, dancing, caroling snowmen for Christmas "2004" and she just thought they were the cutest things. They dis-counted them to get rid of them at Kirlin's so Aunt Norma asked me if I would pick her up some for her kid's for Christmas "2005" and I said I would so I did and she paid me for them. She was tickled to get them for her kid's because she said it was hard to buy for some of them with not knowing what they'd want etc. She had me hide them under their bed so nobody would see them. When she passed away her kid's found these Caroling Snowmen still in the bag upstairs. It was the last gift that their Mother bought them so those snowmen are quite the keepsakes. I had her hooked on "PRECIOUS MOMENTS" big time and there was a sale going on at Kirlin's and they had several real cute one's left and I told Norma about it and she asked me to pick her up one for Wilma and one for Regina which I did. These precious moments meant ALOT to both Wilma & Regina. Aunt Norma was ALOT like her Mother Delphine [My Grandma Phillips's] they always had people running errands for them! Ha!Ha! When I'd go to Aunt Norma's to spend the night I started taking my own hammer & nails with me so in case she needed something put on her walls because she'd say the kid's would tell her she didn't need a hammer and they'd take it and she didn't know where it was at half the time! Ha!Ha! We were definitely two peas in a pod! Ha!Ha! After Aunt Norma passed away I gave her 7 kid's the beautiful gifts that I had bought and given to their Mom because I knew they would cherish those things knowing how much their mom loved everything I got for her. I feel that Aunt Norma would be super proud of me for having done that for her kid's. I wrote special poems for all 7 of Norma & Don's kid's, for all 13 Grandkid's, and for the 4 son-in-law's and 2 daughter-in-law's in memory of her & Uncle Don's passing.