Norma Kathleen Ploss Justice died peacefully and with grace at home in Boise on May 5, 2010 surrounded by her loving family.

She was born on May 7, 1926 to Jenny Lee Apgar and Adolph Gustav Ploss.  Norma was raised in a lava rock house built by her father on one of the earliest homestead farms in Jerome, Idaho.  She attended elementary through high school in Jerome, continuing her education at the University of Denver and Boise State University where she earned a Bachelors degree in psychology and a Masters degree in education. Her Master’s thesis was based on the viability of the ungraded classroom.  She taught third and fifth grade in the Emmett, Boise, New Meadows and Kuna, Idaho school districts for over thirty years. Norma was passionate about archaeology, going on extensive archaeological expeditions.  She was the central Idaho campaign coordinator for Senator Frank Church and volunteered at the Birds of Prey, Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Discovery Center, Meridian Library and the Meridian public schools.  Norma played the piano, violin and bass.  She traveled throughout the United States and Canada, was an excellent seamstress, and enjoyed hiking and camping in the wilderness areas of Idaho. A highlight of her hiking experience was a week long, hundred-mile hike to the Chinese Wall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana.   Norma instilled a deep appreciation of classical music, art, fine literature, nature, science, celebration and beauty in her children.