Norma Peveto Toohey

Norma Peveto “Gingo” Toohey

Norma Peveto “Gingo” Toohey, 94, of Orange, Texas, passed away on September 12, 2024, at Cherished Years in Orange. 

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange. The service will be officiated by her son in law, David Lilley, Pastor of Woodlands Church, Longville, Louisiana. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Orange.

Visitation will begin prior to the service at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange.

Norma Peveto Toohey was born on April 18, 1930 in Port Arthur, Texas. She was the first born of the nine children of Louis Rubenstein Peveto and his wife Gladys. Norma graduated from Lutcher Stark High School in 1947, after which she began work at the old Perry Brothers store on Green Avenue. Next, she worked as an operator for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, where she saved money and bought her first new car. In 1949, Norma met her future husband William Joseph “Bill” Toohey. Bill, who was from Minneapolis, Minnesota, was stationed at the Naval Base in Orange while serving in the Navy during the Korean Conflict. They were married for fifty-four years when Bill passed away in 2004. The couple had seven children: Diana Trimble (Kenneth), Cindy Lilley (David), Glenn Toohey (Karen), Eddie Toohey (Karlene), Jet Toohey (Bridget), John Toohey (Johnna), and Leonard Toohey (Eileen). The couple was also blessed with nineteen grandchildren, twenty-nine great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. 

Norma was a fun-loving, energetic, and creative woman of God who embodied the “gift of helps”. If help was needed, she was there. She never had idle hands, and was gifted at painting, woodworking, crafts, and sewing. Norma lived her life helping her family succeed; her family was her life. Everyone knew her as “Gingo”, the name, which was coined by her first grandson, Billy Oldham. She loved being outside in her yard, rather than inside the house, yet never neglected her home and family. Norma believed in Jesus Christ and was baptized at North Orange Baptist Church (when it was on 10th Street) when she was nine years old. She said, “Mr. and Mrs. Cooper would pick us kids up and give us a ride to church.” From that time on, Norma lived as a Christian. In her later years, she attended her two favorite churches: St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church and Community Church, both in Orange. While at St. Francis, Bill and Norma established the “Young at Heart” fellowship for seniors, which is still active today. Her deepest desire was to see all her children and grandchildren doing well, “Happy, healthy, and walking with the Lord”. Norma began experiencing dementia a few years after Bill died. Her grandson Billy was her first caregiver. 

Norma is proceeded in death by her mother and father, her husband Bill, her brothers Johnny Norwood, Claude Sam, Donald, Jack, and Louis Peveto; as well as her sisters Ruby Brown, Louise Pitcher, and Evelyn Goodman. 

Pallbearers will be her oldest grandsons: Billy Oldham, Glen Childers, Todd Oldham, Tommy J. Thompson, Eddie L. Toohey, and Brandon Toohey.

 Special thanks to Cherished Years, Hartburg, Texas and Southeast Texas Hospice, and Cristi Fall for the excellent care provided through Norma’s last five years.