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Norma Jean Bauerschmidt was a World War II Navy veteran who’d lived to be 90 years old. Her husband had passed away just a few days ago, and suddenly she, herself, found herself facing death.
At 90, Norma was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Her doctor said she could undergo treatment – which would include risky surgeries that didn’t guarantee full recovery – or she could forgo medical intervention and simply enjoy the rest of her life naturally.
Norma chose the latter, and told her doctor, “I’m 90 years old. I’m not interested in going through that. I’m hitting the road.”
Her doctor was a little surprised, but very quickly replied, “That’s exactly what I’d do, too.”
For the next year, Norma traveled across the country with the support of her retired son and his wife, Tim and Ramie. The couple shared Norma’s story on Facebook, and her story – a 90-year-old woman stricken with cancer traveling around the United States – very quickly went viral.
Everyone wanted to know where Norma was going and how she liked all her destinations, big and small. She went to several national parks and saw Old Faithful, Mount Rushmore, as well as the Grand Canyon; and even got her first pedicure when she was traveling through Georgia.
For a while, it seemed that Norma’s health was improving. Her spirits rose with each stop on her trip, and she was always pleased to be meeting and seeing new people.
Unfortunately, the blessing of good health was short-lived.
Before Norma could make it to Washington to go whale watching, her health rapidly declined, and her family had to take her to a hospice on the San Juan Islands in early September.
On September 30, 2016, Norma Jean Bauerschmidt passed away at age 91.
She’d traveled over 13,000 miles, visited 32 states, and slept in 75 different places. Her family plans to bury her next to her husband, and hopes that her inspirational end-of-life story will encourage others to begin having this important conversation with the people in their lives before it’s too late.
Ramie hopes that everyone who has been moved by Norma’s story will honor her memory by “infus[ing] some joy in the world. Pay it forward in [your] own community. Pay it forward in [your] own family.”
