Norm Gerdeman (aka Norman Walter) was born on March 2nd, 1942, to Walter and Esther Gedeman in the small town of Delphos, Ohio. Norm was the second oldest of nine children and the oldest boy. He grew up on a farm that had cattle, pigs, chicken, and crops to tend to. Being he was the oldest son, he worked hard to help his dad and other brothers take care of the livestock and harvest the fields. He built pigpens and chicken coops and drove a tractor before he knew how to drive. Once and awhile, he would take a break to play baseball in the open field with his siblings or attend the local basketball game at Delphos St. Johns where he went to school. He grew up on Gerdeman Road down the road from some other Gerdeman family members too.
He met his wife at a local hangout full of music, dancing, and girls! Rosie was from Ottawa, Ohio a town about 20-30 minutes away… an out-of-town girl back in the day. They were engaged on a snowy Valentine’s Day in 1963 where Norm drove through a blizzard to pop the question. They were married on Thanksgiving, November 28, 1963. After saying “I do”, they moved to the little bit bigger town of Lima, Ohio where they rented a duplex and lived there while having their first son Brad. Norm was 23. Norm and Rosie built a house while expecting their first daughter Rachael and moved in when Rosie was pregnant. The first two kids were followed by two more: Michelle and Erick, all kids being 18 months apart.
Norm and Rosie lived in that same house on Spencerville Road for 39 years. Norm worked as an iron roll foundry foreman for most of that time at a company that changed names from Teledyne Ohio Steel to Wemco later on. Each day after coming home from the foundry, he would eat dinner with the family and then go out to the workshop until about 10:00 at night where he would make furniture for clients of a local interior decorator. He became quite the craftsman designing quality pieces anywhere from dining room sets to China cabinets to coffee tables and remodeling basements and homes. He even put an inground pool in for his kids and told them it was their “vacation” in the backyard. Boy did they get a lot of use out of that pool! Norm would take breaks from the workshop on hot Saturdays by diving into the pool and swimming a lap or two before getting out and going back to his carpentry.
Norm has always loved the Cincinnati Reds. Back in the day, you would often find him watching the Reds on TV or listening to Joe Nuxhall and Marty Brennanman call the games on his transistor radio. Norm and Rosie were part of the Reds Rooters and went on a couple of Reds Rooter Weekends to Spring Training over the years. Norm also loved watching his boys play sports (especially basketball) and his girls cheer for their high school teams. His favorite over the years has probably been Ohio State Football though. He proudly hangs his Ohio State banner outside of his door to his apartment and you’ll find him almost every Saturday during the fall watching Ohio State at noon on TV. He had a chance to go to an Ohio State game one year in Columbus which was a highlight of his OSU fandom! Another sports highlight was his few trips to Ireland with Brad to play golf. It was especially memorable in August of 2013 when he hit a “hole-in-one” at Lanhinch Golf Club in Lahinch, Ireland. The Golf Club was ranked in the top 40 courses in the world, and he hit the hole in one on Hole #16.
In 2005, Norm and Rosie took the big leap and moved to Oldham County, KY to a house they built to be in the same neighborhood with their daughter Rachael, her husband and their four boys. Although they could have chosen other kids to move nearby, they felt the four boys would provide them with the most “bang for their buck” with all the games to watch as their grandsons played basketball, baseball, soccer, track, and football. Norm loved caring for his house. His grass was always the greenest and his flowers always the fullest! He was the neighborhood remodeler and repairman. Anything the neighbors needed, they just called Norm!
Norm and Rosie liked to travel to see their other kids in Columbus, Ohio, Atlanta, and Austin and ventured on a few other vacations over the years as well. One of the last trips before Norm started getting more physically challenged with pain and Parkinson’s was renting a large cabin in Pigeon Forge where everyone was able to come together. In May of 2023, a fall by Rosie coupled by Norm’s Parkinson’s progressing resulted in them moving into Assisted Living. Last year Norm surprising had to say goodbye to his wife Rosie as she passed away in April from congestive heart failure and kidney failure. The beautiful celebration at the St. Aloysious chapel that he helped to remodel brought the whole family together to surround and support Norm.
Rachael’s family lives close to Norm and his other kids come in when they can. Besides his four children, Norm has 13 grandkids and going on seven great-grandchildren. He sometimes sits backs and thinks of all the life he and Rosie have brought into this world. He has much to be thankful for, that’s for sure!
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