Norma Hughes

A Beloved Mom's Obituary

03/07/1933 – 01/22/2022

Norma Scism-Hughes was born on March 7, 1933 and was the eldest of three children to Richard Scism and Dorothy Sheffer-Scism.  Norma was raised a farmer's daughter in Hudson River Valley communities of upstate New York where her family was seventh generation Hudson Valley residents, having arrived when America was still a British colony.  Her childhood was during the "waste not, want not" years of the Great Depression and World War II, with her family listening to Roosevelt's Fireside Chats on the radio.  Norma then entered high school and graduated from Red Hook High School in 1950 loving radio shows and popular big band music.  She once described her senior year trip to Washington DC as the "highlight" of her childhood.  Being a good student in high school, she was the first in her family to attend college.  At Ithaca College in upstate New York, Norma was majoring in performing arts.  While working part-time as a waitress in Ithaca, she met Cornell University student Vincent Hughes, Jr. from New York City.

Norma and Vincent dated and married in August, 1953 after his graduation from Cornell.  The newly married resided at the home of Dr. Vincent Hughes, Sr. and Mary Hughes in New York City, where Norma gave birth to the couple's first boy Brian in 1954 and first and only girl Ellen in 1955.  Norma was a busy wife caring for infants when her husband joined the US Air Force as an officer.  The young military family was assigned a tour of duty to Normandy France, where Norma gave birth to two more boys, Timothy in 1957 and Peter in 1958.  The young couple loved traveling Europe in the late 1950s.  In 1960, Norma gave birth to the couple's fourth boy and fifth child, Vincent III, soon after returning to the States.  It's been suggested that by having five children in six years Norma may have set the record for changing and cleaning cotton diapers in one year without a single injury.

Norma spent the 1960s managing the household for five children, while the family was being transferred from one Air Force military assignment to another.  During this period, Norma managed time for leadership roles in the community.  She was Cub Scout Den Mother for her boys and Girl Scout Troop Leader for her daughter.  She also found time to be president of a local women's club and attended PTA meetings.  Norma's household always seem to have music playing from big band music to musicals like the Music Man and pop songs of the '60s.  In 1967, she bought a Steinway piano while her husband was doing a tour of duty in Vietnam.  For Christmas that year, Norma practiced Christmas songs on the piano with her kids.  Together, she recorded a reel-to-reel video tape of family Christmas songs that was mailed to their dad in Vietnam.  Norma loved driving with her kids in the family station wagon on trips up to see her folks on the family farm in the Hudson River Valley and to see her husband's folks who had retired in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Norma's marriage ended in 1970, while her love as a dedicated mother never faltered.  While living in Alexandria VA, she quickly adapted to being a single parent and entered the workforce.  She accepted a job as a GS3, entry level secretary, with the newly established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington DC.  In the 1970s, Norma commuted daily to her EPA job, while somehow managing a household of five teenagers and their visiting friends.  Her teenagers attended and played school sports at Hayfield High School in Alexandria, while their pop music played on the radio and on vinyl records.  She always insisted her kids take college prep courses.  Each of her kids received a suitcase by their eighteenth birthday: "Kids, you are going to college".

Norma was promoted several times in her career at the EPA, finishing as a GS13 managing contractor programs for the agency.  In her EPA career, she assisted in implementing the nation's first clean air and clean water programs, and the first nationwide hazardous waste and hazardous materials programs.  After her children attended college and started their own families, she took on leadership roles in the DC's Toastmasters Club for public speaking.  After commuting for 30 years from her home in Alexandria to the Capital City she loved, Norma retired from the EPA in 2000.

In retirement, Norma continued to show her love for music, the arts and traveling.  Her adult children would nickname her "world traveling Mom".  She took on leadership roles in local Northern Virginia organizations like the Fairfax County chapter of Lifetime Learning Institute where she completed a term as chapter president.  She loved spending quality time with her adult children and grandchildren.  Her grandchildren loved visiting with her for trips to DC, riding the metro train and going to the monuments, museums and some performing arts.

In 2012, Norma moved to Greenspring Senior Living Community in Springfield VA.  She loved the Greenspring Community, where she was active in several Greenspring organizations.  She was active with the New York Group at Greenspring.  She performed for the Greenspring Players Theatre Group.  She took on a leadership role with the Greenspring Entertainment Roundtable that scheduled music concerts.  She was president of Reunion Music Society at the Northern VA Community College in Annandale and invited music director Christopher Johnston and his orchestra to play many times at Greenspring, whereupon she enjoyed being the MC at the concerts.

Beloved Norma passed away on 01-22-2022 with family love and comfort by her side after having battled COPD and emphysema the past few years.  She is survived by her five children: Brian, Ellen, Tim, Pete and Vince.  She's survived by eleven grandchildren (in birth order): Sarah, Tim, Jr, Kevin, Bradley, Ryan, Nathan, Kyle, Jamie, Alexis, Joseph and Elyse.  And (to date) she is survived by five great grandchildren: Jonathan, Angelina, Charlotte, Albert and Veronica.