Kalas Funeral Home & Crematory

Linda Tonnessen Norris
April 9, 1947-February 15, 2022

Linda Norris of Arnold, Maryland departed her earthly home peacefully on February 15, 2022, just hours after her family gathered to celebrate her life. She had struggled for six years with corticobasal syndrome, a rare neurodegenerative condition that deprived her of the ability to care for herself and communicate with others but left her awareness intact.  Linda handled the disease with the same courage, strength, and dignity that characterized the rest of her life.

Born in 1947 in Brooklyn, NY of Trygve and Lillian (Salvesen) Tonnessen, Linda was a thoroughbred Norwegian.  She was musical, intelligent, and graduated from Mt. Holyoke College, but perhaps is best described as a warm and empathetic “cultivator of relationships.” She cultivated a relationship with her Lord through Bible study, prayer, and service in leadership positions at two churches, including as a Deacon and Stephen Minister.  She cultivated deep relationships with her family at all levels: wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, and in-law.  Nothing was more important to Linda than her family, and she would spare nothing to be supportive of them. According to her two sisters, “Linda was always the nice one!”

Linda’s warmth and honesty enabled her to cultivate strong relationships with anyone she met during her life’s journey including her own childhood friends, her children’s friends and their parents, congregation members, neighbors, as well as complete strangers including a homeless woman one cold winter day on the streets of New York City who was given the heavy coat Linda was wearing. During her illness, Linda had multiple caregivers who came to love her as a patient and in some cases as a mother.  As one caregiver said recently, “If you can’t love LindaNorris, you can’t love anybody!”

Linda is survived by her husband of 53 years, Jeff Norris; two daughters, Gail (Mark)Murphy (Annapolis) and Wendy (Chris) Roberts (Nashville); one son Robert (Kristin) Norris (Chicago); and seven grandchildren.

A service of witness to the resurrection will be held on Saturday, March 5 beginning at 11:00 am at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church, 611 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. Severna Park, Maryland.  The service will be live-streamed on the Woods’ website: <a href ="https://woodschurch.org/worship/watch-live/" >Online Here </a> 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Woods Church or, if you prefer to donate to research on a cure and treatment for Linda’s disease, gifts can be made securely online to Johns Hopkins at <a href="https://secure.jhu.edu/form/neuro"> Online Here</a> Please select "Other" from the dropdown menu and write "Alexander Pantelyat's Atypical Parkinsonism work" in the "Please describe*" field. You do not need to sign in or create a log in.
























Linda T. Norris

Linda T. Norris

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