By Corey Everitt
Locals have lost one of their most beloved stalwarts, Norma Jackson (née Marshall, 1923-2024) has died leaving a century’s worth of memories in Pakenham.
‘Aunty Norma’ died on Monday evening 30 September at the age of 100.
It would be hard to find anyone involved in Pakenham in those 100 years who has not come across Norma, she spent about 91 of her years living just off Main Street.
She is a life member of the Pakenham Football Netball Club and the Pakenham Fire Brigade, spending the vast majority of her life dedicated to her church and community.
Well into her 90s, she was still a regular face behind the canteen at the football and netball games as well as the Sunday markets.
When she was 89, she received the Stan Henwood Award, a more-than-deserving recognition for the decades of volunteering.
“She had a good innings,” her nephew Stanley Young said.
“She was a great worker for the community, for the fire brigade, the footy club, the church.”
Family and friends had the privilege of celebrating her birthday last December as she welcomed her 100th year, despite then not being in the best of health she reportedly still made the effort to read and appreciate her letter from King Charles.
First moving to Pakenham when she was 10 years old, there is possibly no one who has consecutively lived in and contributed to Pakenham as long as Norma, followed closely only by her siblings.
The move happened as her father James Marshall became a local police officer for Pakenham in 1933.
She and her two younger sisters, Thelma (Young) and Alma (Patullo), would all become well-known locals.
“She lived a long life and was a great worker for Pakenham,” Alma said.
Alma is now the last of the three sisters with Thelma having died in July this year.
Between them is a century of memories of old Pakenham, Norma herself could recall the big flood of 1934 in the Kooweerup Swamp, the bushfires of 1944, and the regular checks for potential sabotage her father did during the Second World War.
She married Norm Jackson, a legendary player in Pakenham Football Club history where Norma would be known as one of the most staunch supporters.
She was also dedicated many years to Pakenham netball starting back when it was referred to as basketball.
A player in 1939, by the war’s end in 1945 she would be club president.
Years later in 1960, she would be pivotal in founding the first local junior netball competition and would coach her team to three premierships through the ‘60s.
Pakenham was Norma’s world for 91 years and many in the family have continued their love for the town, including her two daughters Gloria Webster and Diane Dunn who have always lived in the area.
“All the family’s here and I really enjoy what I do. I always have,” Norma said in a 2008 interview with the Gazette.
“Why would I want to leave?”
