Welcome to a pictorial display of some of events from Norma Poinsetts life. This is my birthday gift to her. She will be eighty years old on September 2. Happy birthday Norma.
Second from the right - second row is Norma as a young girl and her six sisters.
Besides celebrating her birthday, Norma is also celebrating fifty years as an active Unitarian Universalist.
While the picture is a little fuzzy, there is nothing unclear about Norma's title of Dr. Norma Poinsett. Here she is shown receiving an honorary degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was an African American Unitarian in the nineteenth century that was involved in five movements: childrens, black literary movement, suffragette, abolitionist and temperance movement. She was a member of First Unitarian in Philadelphia. In this scence, a number of Unitarian Universalists gathered to pay tribute to Harper and to place a headstone on her gravesite.
This is Norma Poinsett, my friend. She will turn eighty years old on September 2. Happy birthday Norma and many more happy returns.
She gave me my first tennis lesson on Monday, August 27, 2007 and almost ran me into the ground. I want to be her when I grow up!
Norma was very patient with me and even told me I had potential! Now if I can just hang in there!
Norma and I played for an hour and then she played another game with her friend Terri. I am not sure that I could have played another hour. But Norma was all ready for another game.
Norma said that she does hundreds of leg exercises each morning and whenever she wakes up during the night. And her game showed it! She was running me ragged! I am just a little sore!
This summer, Norma and I worked on capturing some highlights from her life. She is not quite ready to write her memoirs but this came pretty close. I will be posting it later in the year once I finish the other essays. Norma is a great cook and I had fun writing while she talked about her life with her family and friends and her accomplishments. I would go to her house on Sundays after church and she would feed me a delicious home cooked meal. Then we got to work!
Norma has devoted fifty years of service to Unitarian Universalism and has served on almost every committee and entity that exists.
Norm, thank you for your friendship, the tennis lesson and your many contributions to Unitarian Universalism!
L to R Jeremy, Rev. LaDonna Saunders and Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman in Chicago, IL sharing our amazing experiences and energy about South Africa.
L to R Rev. LaDonna Saunders, alum of McCormick and Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman. We hooked up by accident - no by destiny, having met for the first time in person the previous night. It was like we had known each other all our lives. We brainstormed for hours. She is doing amazing things around HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Of course we had a lot to talk about. She has already been to South Africa three times and is ready to go for good. Hearing about the orphanages was particularly heart rending.
L to R Jeremy is a photographer and was sharing with us how beautiful his time was in South Africa. Taking pictures of the children was an amazing experience for him as well as for them. We all talked about our calling to South Africa and how blessed we feel to be able to be a part of things there. The energy between us was absolutely amazing. 
