Norma Pierce Obituary

Norma Faye Scribner Pierce, a native of Mobile, Alabama, peacefully departed this life on April 9th, 2024, surrounded by her loving family and friends. To cherish her memory, she leaves her sister, Sherlie Scribner, daughter, Kathryn Pierce Peake Tuttle (Lyles), three sons, Donald Fay Pierce, Jr. (Stacie), John Charles Scribner Pierce, Sr. (Amber) and Jeffrey Grant Pierce, Sr. (Sonia), grandchildren, Gerald Alton Peake, III (Caitlin), Patrick Pierce Peake (Emily), Elizabeth Kathryn Peake Smith (Trey), Donald Fay Pierce, III, Brazier Elizabeth Pierce, Katherine Ellis Pierce, Ethan James Frost, Gavin Iain Frost, John Charles Spencer Pierce, Sarah Elizabeth Pierce, Jeffrey Grant Pierce, Jr., her longtime friend and constant companion, Ashley Hinton, and Helen Hu (James and son Jimmy), who she loved as a daughter. She also leaves numerous great-grandchildren and friends. She is proceeded in death by her husband, Donald Fay Pierce, Sr., her grandson, John Charles ("Chas") Scribner Pierce, Jr., her parents Murl and Eva Coggin Scribner, and her sister, Wilda Scribner Grace. She was passionate about education. After Murphy High School, she earned a Bachelor of Science at the age of 18 from Blue Mountain College, a Master of Chemistry and Math at the age of 21 from the University of Alabama, and then taught math and science at Tuscaloosa High School from 1954 to 1958. She returned to Mobile after her husband, Don, completed law school, teaching math and science at Julius T. Wright School for Girls from 1959 to 1961, then spent the next 20 years rearing four children and becoming an accomplished tennis player. She returned to school and earned a Master of Psychology in 1981 from the University of South Alabama, completing a residency and serving as an Instructor of Psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi in August of 1983, serving as an Instructor and Student Counselor, completing an Externship at the Vietnam Veterans' Outpatient Center of the Veteran's Administration, and serving as a therapist at the University of South Alabama Psychological Clinic. After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Pierce tested and counseled patients for almost 40 years through her clinical psychology practice. She instilled the importance of education in everyone she encountered. She ferociously encouraged her children and grandchildren to set high goals and spent her life's efforts to ensure educational opportunity for them and for others. She was loving and deeply involved with her children, their friends, and their schools, helping found and serving as the first president of the UMS Preparatory School Mother's Club. She was also a founding board member of Bright Beginnings (now Bright Academy), a school for children suffering from Dyslexia. Her devotion to learning was eclipsed only by her steadfast devotion to God. She taught Sunday School at Spring Hill Baptist Church for over 30 years and was determined to help people experience the saving grace of Jesus Christ. She was active with the Woman's Missionary Union and helped young women in need through service to the Florence Crittenton organization. She believed in outreach to a broad spectrum of people, serving as a Southern Baptist Interfaith Witness. When a new religious organization was growing its membership and business presence in the local seafood industry, she reached out to its leaders and members, personally meeting with them at their facilities to learn so she could teach others about the group's practices and beliefs. She recognized the importance of helping bring the community's two largest Christian denominations together, taking classes on Catholicism at Spring Hill College and leading prayer groups and bible studies among Baptist and Catholic friends. She encouraged a Catholic friend to speak to her Sunday School class, saying, "I want you to come and talk to these ladies so when they die and go to Heaven, they won't be surprised to find somebody there besides Baptists." Her interfaith ministry was chronicled in a 1980 book, "Your God, My God," published by the Home Missions Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. In her later years, she became active with the Daughters of Mary at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, an experience which she described as an expression of her "Roman Baptist" faith. She was a member of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, Psi Chi Psychology Honorary, a Scholar in the National Science Foundation Chemistry Honorary, a member of Alpha Theta Chi Mathematics Honorary, and recognized in "Who's Who in the South and Southeast." Of all these accolades, she most cherished being a wife and mother, and was most humbled by the love and grace of her Lord and Savior.