Mother, grandmother, sister, friend, and former Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder co-publisher, Norma Jean Williams, passed away Tuesday, June 6, 2023.
Norma was born in Des Moines, Iowa on December 28, 1941, to parents Wallace O’Neal and Launa (Quincy) Jackman, the first of two children. She passed away peacefully at the age of 81, at home where she resided with her daughter, Tracey. She was preceded in death by her parents, her father Wallace Jackman, and her mother Launa Newman.
Norma moved to Minneapolis in 1965 with her then-husband James Williams, Sr., and two young daughters, to join her mother and brother Wallace “Jack” Jackman Jr., and began her association with the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (then the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder). She often joined the newspaper’s backroom performing many duties. Her involvement increased in 1976 when she became the paper’s vice president, during which time she interviewed local and national notables. Her writing skills were also put to use when she interviewed visiting celebrities like Eartha Kitt, Rosa Parks, James Brown, and B.B. King for the newspaper.