Elizabeth Ann Norris was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota on July 28th, 1931.  She grew up in in Evanston, Illinois in a vibrant and loving family and was the eldest child of Karl and Esther Franke.  Elizabeth loved singing and excelled in drama, performing in many plays in high school.

One day after church, a guest visiting from Aberdeen, South Dakota, was invited for lunch. Afterwards, Elizabeth's Mother, invited the guest, Roger Norris, to spend the summer with them and Elizabeth’s two younger brothers, John and Karl.  Elizabeth was sweet 16 and Roger was 18. That was the start of what would eventually lead to a 58-year marriage.

When she was a high school senior, Elizabeth was the Evanston 4^th of July Queen and was honored with fireworks and parade ending in Dyke Stadium. She entered Northwestern University and became a member of the Tri Delta sorority where she was a "Hello Girl" on campus and graduated in 1953 with a degree in Speech and Drama.  Given a 7-week graduation trip to Europe by her parents, her life was greatly impacted by what she experienced. Her skills at convincing several sorority sisters to embark on the same trip, led to a job with Olson Tours in Chicago as a European Tour Conductor.  Over the next two years, Elizabeth led a total of 6 tours to Europe, sailing on the original Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary Ocean Liners. She even met Spencer Tracy in Paris during a transportation strike where he asked to join her tour bus so he could get out of France.

Elizabeth married USN Lieutenant Roger Everett Norris May 21st,1955 in Evanston in a beautiful ceremony with 500 people in attendance. After the wedding, she and her new husband headed to Honolulu, Hawaii for Roger's Navy assignment on the USS Carpenter.  Their first child, Marcelyn Lei, was born in 1956, ten months after their wedding.

In 1957 she returned to Evanston, and Roger joined General Electric in computer sales. Elizabeth's love of antiques and the arts led her to be an interior decorator, and combined with Roger's electrical knowledge, they successfully remodeled several homes. They moved multiple times due to Roger’s job, living in Schenectady, New York; Nahant, Massachusetts; and Roanoke, Virginia where second child, Ann Elizabeth was born in 1959. They moved to Phoenix and back to Evanston where their son, John Roger was born in 1962.

In 1968, the family moved to Denver and enjoyed living in a lakeside community in Littleton. They learned to ski in the beautiful Rocky Mountain town of Breckenridge and bought a family cabin they kept for 53 years where they enjoyed many family gatherings and making memories.  

Roger was promoted in 1970 and transferred with GE to San Francisco where the family settled in Danville and lived there for the next 50 years. With their three children in school, Elizabeth became the San Ramon Valley High PTA President and Methodist Youth Fellowship Director in Alamo.

Elizabeth became born again in 1976 in the most amazing way. She had struggled with back pain for much of her adult life and had learned in Bible Study Fellowship to "call on the name of Jesus" in prayer and petition and after doing this, she was miraculously healed. Elizabeth loved leading Bible studies in her home and from that had many spiritual sons and daughters who saw miracles and answers to their prayers.

In the early 1980’s, Elizabeth formed Elizabeth Norris Designs where she made hand-crafted, custom necklaces that incorporated unique items given to her by her Great Aunt and Uncle, who were missionaries in China. She and daughter, Marcelyn, who joined her in this endeavor, sold their unique necklace designs at Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstroms, I Magnin's and in boutique shops.  Elizabeth's necklaces started many conversations which would often lead to Jesus.

Between 1994 and 1999 Roger and Elizabeth’s four grandchildren were born, and it gave her great joy to spend time with them. Elizabeth loved teaching her grandkids about Jesus, spending time exploring nature, and doing crafts together.

In the late 1990’s, Elizabeth was invited to travel to Israel to walk where Jesus walked. This led to a 6-week summer course through the American Christian Trust held at the Hebrew University. Soon after, they answered the call to be Resident Managers for 8 months in the Praise Pavilion in Jerusalem at David's Village across from Jaffa Gate where they hosted visiting pastors and leaders from around the world. They also served in the same capacity at the American Christian Trust in Washington DC.

Wherever Elizabeth traveled, she struck up conversations with strangers and witnessed to them about Jesus. For 20 years after Roger retired, they traveled to many countries on prayer journeys including Israel, Jordan, Turkey, China, Tibet, Mongolia and Greece. They worked for Elias Malki's Middle East Gospel Outreach in Cyprus several times and assisted Elias in running his leadership school for Middle East Pastors and their wives, who they loved very much.

Using her gift of speaking and drama, Elizabeth was invited to speak at Women of Joy and Women's Aglow Chapters in California, Virginia, and Jerusalem, Israel, sharing her love of the Lord and hope found in Jesus. After Roger died in April 2019, Elizabeth continued to witness and minister to those she came across in her life, right up to the nurses and doctors in the hospital where she eventually passed away on December 13, 2020.

Throughout her life, Elizabeth “pressed on” toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Phil 3:13. She answered the call of Jesus with all of her heart and soul and mind and strength and heart and we know she is celebrating with Him in heaven with many jewels in her crown. Her family misses her greatly and has the joy of knowing we will be reunited: “Here, there or in the air!”