Norma Elizabeth (Anderson) Magner
Description
Norma Elizabeth (Anderson) Magner, 47.
Born June 24, 1924 in Sturgis, SD to Earl and Helen Anderson. Her father ran Anderson Hardware in Sturgis. She attended St. Martin's Academy in Sturgis and graduated from the University of South Dakota. Norma came to Rapid City in 1945 and went to work for KOTA radio, where she met her future husband. She was married to William Magner on June 6, 1946 in Sturgis. They had three children: William, Jeffrey, and Merlyn. Norma was very active in charity work in both Flint, MI, and in Rapid City.
Her daughter remembered her as fiercely loving: Norma indulged her and let her stay home from school when she wasn't sick. She was affectionate, tender, and magnetic to her daughter.
She was not always well and had two heart attacks while her children were still young.
On the night of the flood, Norma and her husband had gone to a cocktail party at a neighbor's home, leaving Jeff and Merlyn at home. William and Norma called home several times and were keeping an eye on the weather outside.
Merlyn and her brother Jeffrey attempted to get up on the roof of their house: Jeff got up, but Merlyn didn't. He was swept off the roof and she was swept out of the house. At one point, Merlyn saw Norma and William on the roof of the neighbor's home before she was swept away.
She was survived by a son William Magner III, who was serving in Vietnam with the Air Force. He came back at the time of the flood and was the one who went looking for his parents and brother in the makeshift morgues set up around town using rental trucks to transport the dead to refrigerator trucks; a daughter, Merlyn, who wrote her story of the flood and its aftermath in 2011 titled "Come Into the Water"; and a sister, Mildred Dunn, of Newport, PA.
William Magner's body was found and identified very early, but his Norma's body was found a week or so later on the east side of town. Burial of her casket had already taken place, and Meryln never knew what happened to her body once it was identified by dental records.
Memorialized in Forest Hill Cemetery in Duluth, MN, with her husband and son, Jeffrey.
Born June 24, 1924 in Sturgis, SD to Earl and Helen Anderson. Her father ran Anderson Hardware in Sturgis. She attended St. Martin's Academy in Sturgis and graduated from the University of South Dakota. Norma came to Rapid City in 1945 and went to work for KOTA radio, where she met her future husband. She was married to William Magner on June 6, 1946 in Sturgis. They had three children: William, Jeffrey, and Merlyn. Norma was very active in charity work in both Flint, MI, and in Rapid City.
Her daughter remembered her as fiercely loving: Norma indulged her and let her stay home from school when she wasn't sick. She was affectionate, tender, and magnetic to her daughter.
She was not always well and had two heart attacks while her children were still young.
On the night of the flood, Norma and her husband had gone to a cocktail party at a neighbor's home, leaving Jeff and Merlyn at home. William and Norma called home several times and were keeping an eye on the weather outside.
Merlyn and her brother Jeffrey attempted to get up on the roof of their house: Jeff got up, but Merlyn didn't. He was swept off the roof and she was swept out of the house. At one point, Merlyn saw Norma and William on the roof of the neighbor's home before she was swept away.
She was survived by a son William Magner III, who was serving in Vietnam with the Air Force. He came back at the time of the flood and was the one who went looking for his parents and brother in the makeshift morgues set up around town using rental trucks to transport the dead to refrigerator trucks; a daughter, Merlyn, who wrote her story of the flood and its aftermath in 2011 titled "Come Into the Water"; and a sister, Mildred Dunn, of Newport, PA.
William Magner's body was found and identified very early, but his Norma's body was found a week or so later on the east side of town. Burial of her casket had already taken place, and Meryln never knew what happened to her body once it was identified by dental records.
Memorialized in Forest Hill Cemetery in Duluth, MN, with her husband and son, Jeffrey.
Files
Collection
Citation
“Norma Elizabeth (Anderson) Magner,” Flood of 1972, accessed September 10, 2026, https://1972flood.omeka.net/items/show/387.