Norma Kneeland

NORMA NADINE PAUL (OBERLAG) KNEELAND, age 97 of North Little Rock, passed away May 10, 2018. Born March 20, 1921, daughter of Addison and Lillian Paul of Levy, North Little Rock. She was a retired Civil Service administrator, distinguishing herself as the director of the 2nd Air Force Headquarters Incentive Awards Program after serving as the Executive Secretary to the Base Commander of Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.
A 1937 graduate of North Little Rock High School, she was a professional working woman and mother during and after World War Two in an era when this was unusual. Having lived the nomadic life of a military wife in the Army Air Corp and US Air Force, she held many jobs to help support her young family. Her three sons were born on Military Bases in Temple Texas, Aberdeen Maryland and Shreveport Louisiana. She worked on Top Secret efforts for classified weapons at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds and was at one point a 2 ½ ton "Jimmy" truck driver transporting German Prisoners of War at Camp Phillips, Kansas detention camp and in Shreveport she owned and operated "Door 13 Bar & Lounge". Following the retirement of her husband from the Air Force, the family moved from Shreveport back to North Little Rock where she decided to practice an earlier training as a Cosmetologist by owning and operating The Flair Beauty Salon in Jacksonville, AR. She somehow found time to be a Cub Scout Den Mother leading hikes into the wilds of the forest around Lakewood! And late in life, she even took courses at Little Rock University as her way of encouraging her sons to attend college.
Having grown up during the Great Depression and knowing economic hardship, she was never-the-less always caring, optimistic and fun loving; a trait she attributes to her own mother who dealt with depression economics by driving into the Arkansas backwoods where she would buy bootleg White Lightning to re-sell in half-pint bottles to the railroad workers coming home in her neighborhood in Levy.
She was preceded in death by her husbands Ken Oberlag and Maurice Kneeland as well as her brothers, Earl Paul, Hurschel Paul, Alfred Paul and her daughters-in-law Gail Oberlag and Becky Oberlag.
She is survived by her three sons, Ron Oberlag, of North Little Rock, AR; Randy (Jamie) Oberlag of Chickasha, OK; and Reginald (Alice) Oberlag of New York City, NY; as well as step-son Glenn (Lily) Kneeland of Rossville, TN and step-daughter-in-law Jeannine Kneeland of Vermont.
She is also survived by three grandchildren: Jason (Angela) Oberlag, of Fayetteville, AR; Jennifer (Jamie) Osberg of Wayzata, MN; and R. Kevin Oberlag of Austin, TX, as well as six step-grandchildren: Glen Kneeland, Anita Kneeland Dismukes, Don Borin, Becki Hooten, Jake Glenn, and Erin Cochran.
Norma's heart was big enough to hold the love for two additional former daughters-in-law, Gay (Bill) Miller and Kaye (Mike) McLeod, and also for 17 great grand kids and 8 great-great grand kids!
Norma Kneeland's family mailing address is 4103 Lochridge Rd, North Little Rock, AR 72116. Memorials are requested in lieu of flowers and may be made to CARTI Foundation, P.O. Box 55011, Little Rock AR 72215; to the Trojan Athletic Foundation, 2801 South University Ave., Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock, AR 72204; or to a charity of your choice.