After reigning as Homecoming Queen in 1950 and majoring in physical education with a minor in music, Norma J. Haley wed William Smith ’50 in 1951. A physical education graduate, she taught PE at Wichita High School East and then at West before she and Bill started their family and, in 1961, moved to the Kansas City area, where she focused on their four children and community service.
To cite just one of her projects, she organized pep clubs for girls in 5th through 9th grade in support of the YMCA boys football program. “All three of our boys played in the program, and our daughter was a cheerleader,” she once noted.
In 1973, she began working part time at National Equipment, a company that sold display equipment such as clothing racks and jewelry display cases. She transitioned to full-time work and learned every facet of the business as she advanced from billing clerk, to buyer of seasonal holiday products, to vice president.
In 1989, at the age of 61, she bought the company, by then named National Equipment & Holiday House. Under her presidency, sales climbed from some $1 million annually in 1989 to more than $5 million in 1995. That same year, Smith told the WSU Alumni News, “We just celebrated our first year in our new building, have eight wonderful grandchildren, soon to be nine. Bill is retired from his company and has fun explaining how I should be doing things here.” After retirement, she and Bill returned to the Wichita area.
Norma Smith died May 30, 2013, in Towanda, Kan.
