SHIHADY, Norma Ellen

The Verde Independent, Cottonwood, AZ August 23, 2006 Norma Ellen (Hancock) Shihady, of Cottonwood, died July 7, 2006. She was born in Spring Valley in 1927 to Roy Hancock and Flora Tissaw, one of 12 children. She was a third-generation Arizonan. Her grandfather Joseph Tissaw migrated from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and settled in the Verde Valley in 1887. Norma was raised on her father's Hancock Cattle Ranch near Parks. Norma had many talents - volunteer firefighter, rodeo bronc and bull rider, ranch hand, cook, wife, mother and homemaker. In recent years she volunteered at the Cottonwood Food Bank. Many of Norma's crocheted afghans and baby clothes found their way into the community through the various organizations she supported. She was a long-time member of the Cottonwood Seventh-day Adventist Church. Survivors include her sons Ron Ralph and Ralph Lucas; daughters Debbie Hinkle, Cheryl McGill and Lyndsey Adams; sister Betty Macias; and seven great-grandchildren.