Many of you may remember Nora DeWitt who was a long-time FIRM volunteer and advocate. Her daughter Rev. Sophia DeWitt worked at FIRM for almost twelve years, first as a volunteer, later serving as Director of various programs around health, housing and elders and then Interim Co-Director. Nora passed away earlier this month, and our thoughts and prayers are with Sophia and her family.
Perhaps because of her own childhood experiences as a refugee, Nora was devoted to the mission of FIRM.
Nora was born in 1940 in Losonc, a small town in what was then Greater Hungary, under an alliance with Nazi Germany. In 1945, in the last days of the war in Europe, when she was 5, Nora escaped Hungary by train with her parents and fled into Austria. Their train was under fire at times during the journey. When they reached Austria, they lived outside for several months, following the train tracks and scrounging whatever food they could find, until they made it into southern Germany and were taken in and given shelter by a local priest.
The family lived in Germany for three years, and Nora began school there, but in 1949 with the beginning of the United Nations Refugee Program the family was admitted to several countries. Nora chose her family’s future when she selected an envelope printed with the word “Australia” out of a drawer in the family’s dresser. After a six week ship journey, the family arrived in Australia and in a new life.
Settling in Brisbane, Nora was soon at the top of her class. After graduating high school with honors, she entered the University of Queensland to pursue a degree in Microbiology. She graduated with a PhD in 1971. It was while she was a graduate student, that, on her first trip out of Australia since arriving as a child, she met a handsome, young American on a plane flight. Seven years later, Nora and Hiram were married. A daughter, Sophia, arrived in the fall of 1974. In the summer of 1975, Nora and Hiram moved to the Central Valley.
If you would like to donate in FIRM Nora’s memory, you may do so on our donation page.