Who was Norma Jones? Beloved mother, grandma and 'face of Clearview' in Columbus
A beloved, mother, grandmother and Clearview BBQ worker in Columbus died last month following a shooting that led to her having a medical emergency, according to authorities.
Police said officers responded shortly after 1:30 a.m. June 6 to the 2900 block of Peabody Avenue in reference to shots being fired into a residence.
Norma Jones, 61, was not wounded by the gunfire, but police said she had a medical emergency related to the shooting
Police said a murder investigation is underway.
Who was Norma “Norm” Jones?
“Norm was Clearview,” said Shychael Carr, husband of Jones’ niece and Jones’ coworker. “Norm was the glue, the rock, the backbone that you needed that you didn’t know you had. That was Norm,”
He described Norma as a happy-go-lucky person who was full of energy, loving and caring.
“With her being gone now, it’s a little shaky, but it’s definitely bearable,” Carr said.
Since she died, Carr said, each morning when he walks into Clearview, he looks at the picture of Norma that now hangs in the restaurant and says, “Morning,” in the way she would.
His favorite memory of working with her, Carr said, is when the restaurant was crowded. He said Norma was the type of person to take the longest sausage and run around with it, wiggling it in your face.
“She was funny in her own professional way,” Carr said.
Nobody could stay near Norma’s body the day of her viewing, Carr said, because “we knew where she was, and we could see and physically touch her, but it wasn’t the same.”
Carr called Norma “a real legend.”
Missi Jones worked with Norma for 21 years at Clearview after hiring her in the early 2000s.
“She’s just an all-around good person,” Missi said about Norma.
Missi called Norma one of her “dearest friends.”
“Anything that you needed,” Missi said, “she would do it without hesitation.”
Norma’s death “doesn’t seem real,” she said.
“Being with somebody like that for so long,” Missi said, “it hurts your heart.”
“She helped me make that business (Clearview) what it was,” Missi said. “She was a staple there, just like I was.”
Shelby Dixon-Hood, general manager for Clearview, said, “It’s hard to go into Clearview every day because she (Norma) was the face of Clearview.”
Dixon-Hood said Norma was “one of those people that is one of the most reliable, dependable, down-to-earth, honest people.”
She once overpaid Norma by 10 hours, Dixon-Hood said, but Jones told her and had already pulled the money out of the bank to give it back to her.
Another aspect of Norma’s life was the love and adoration she had for her family.
“She talked about her grandkids, and she talked about her great-grandson, and she loved them, every one of them, and she loved her kids,” Dixon-Hood said, “but her grandkids were her heart and soul, and she was theirs as well.”
Dixon-Hood also spoke of the impact Norma has had on the community. Customers will come into the restaurant and hear about Norma’s death and cry at the counter, she said.
“That just goes to show you the type of person that she was,” Dixon-Hood said. “She’s literally a person that would give you her last penny, her last dollar, the shirt off her back and a ride, if you needed a ride anywhere.”
Norma’s death is “a tragic loss for the community,” she said.
Sheila Dixon said she misses Norma terribly and said she was a “rock star here. She was extremely reliable and fun to be around.”
“It hurts me when I come in here to work, but it warms my heart,” Dixon said. “We have so many people that come in here missing her, asking about her.”
Dixon said the staff used to say Norma could imitate voices of cartoon characters in Disney movies. Norma would put on a cartoon voice and say, “Order up,” she said.
“It was a fun thing that she would do,” Dixon said.
Clearview pit master Kristian Kimbroegh said his grandmother died when he started working at the restaurant.
“Ms. Norm was really like a grandma figure to me,” he said.
Norma treated him like her own, Kimbroegh said. Her death is still a shock to him, he said.
Kimbroegh remembers Norma as a sweet and nice lady who never took shortcuts and worked hard.
“I know it’s cliche,” he said, “but it’s one of them things where I know she’ll want me to always still do the right thing, do things the way she’d do it.”