Norma Lou Gottleber Soll, BHS 1942

Norma Lou Gottleber Soll, BHS 1942 4/5/1924 – 4/7/2015 ........... Norma Soll died April 7, 2015 in Santa Barbara, Calif. She celebrated her 91st birthday with family two days before. Norma Lou Gottleber was born in Los Angeles, Calif. She graduated from Burbank High School and spent two years at Los Angeles City College where she majored in business........... Norma was a multifaceted renaissance woman. As a young woman she aspired to be an actress. She studied drama and in her senior years starred in a national Tylenol TV commercial. Norma was also an accomplished artist. She played the piano and sang. For this she followed in her mother’s footsteps. She sang at weddings, funerals and other special events. She also sang the contralto solo of Handel’s Messiah. She was an accomplished stained glass artist and quilter. She also taught these disciplines. She designed and sewed many of her own and her daughter’s clothes. Norma had a long and successful professional career. She held numerous positions including assistant to the National Sales Manager at Lawry’s Foods. In the words of one of her former employers in the 1960s, “She had the unusual ability of doing a man’s job without losing her identity as a woman.” She owned a Christian Book Store and stained glass shop in North Lake Tahoe. Norma was a devout Christian. She taught the woman’s Bible study group at many churches, most recently as a member of Reality Church in Carpinteria. She also worked as an administrative assistant to the senior pastors at Hollywood Presbyterian Church and Magnolia Methodist Church. ...................

Family was her first love. She is survived by her husband, Armin Soll; brother, Robert Rose; sister, Joyce Johnson; son, Bruce Soll; daughters, Janet Garrison Swanson and Diane Stout; six grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. ................... A memorial service will be held on Thursday, April 30 at 4:30 p.m. at Reality Church in Carpinteria. Published in the Coastal View News, Carpinteria, CA