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Norah Magdalene McCormack
Norah Magdalene McCormack, née Ross, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on February 15, 2024 after a sudden illness. Her signature blend of smiling sass and impudent laugh will be sorely missed by anyone fortunate enough to be her friend.
Norah was born February 24, 1942 in Kansas City Missouri. As a child she moved to Minneapolis, then Louisville, but she spent most of her childhood in Norfolk, Virginia. She graduated from Norfolk Catholic High School, then Trinity College in DC as an English major. She received her Masters of Social Work from Rutgers in 1987.
From 1990 to 2011 she was a clinical social worker, first at the Carrier Clinic in New Jersey, where she served as Head of the Women’s Unit, and then later in private practice.
In 2002 she met her husband Gordon Boals. He asked for her hand on her 65th birthday, and the two married in 2008 in Florence. Affectionately known in the family as “Nordon”, they have been virtually inseparable since then.
Norah moved to Sag Harbor in 1997. She cherished life in the village, and she and Gordon retired there in 2011. Norah was a volunteer for more than ten years at the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry, providing emergency assistance to the food-insecure, was an enthusiastic friend of the Sag Harbor Library, and loved nothing more than reading poetry and short stories in the sun-filled living room of her Sears Roebuck home near Haven’s Beach.
Norah was mother to three children: Bridget McCormack, the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Michigan, actress and author Mary McCormack, Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Will McCormack. And she was grandmother to nine beloved grandchildren, all of whom will miss her lightness, her mischief, her unexpected garage-sale gifts, and her laugh.
The family asks that you remember her with joy. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry, sagharborfoodpantry.org/donations.
Staff Writer on Feb 20, 2024