Norman Clinton Stroth

Norman Clinton Stroth passed away on Thursday, May 19, 2016 in East Aurora, NY.

Born on October 7, 1926 to Mayor Samuel Atherstone Stroth and Florence A. Clint Stroth of Jamestown, NY, Norm graduated from Jamestown High School in 1944, where he was an accomplished scholar, athlete and musician.

He is a World War II veteran, having served from 1944-1946 in the United States Navy aboard the USS Bowditch, which participated in "Operation Crossroads" at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. After the war, he returned to Purdue University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, graduating in 1950. He was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, the Purdue Men's Chorus, and the Sailing Club.

After college, Norm moved to Dunkirk, NY to work for Allegheny Ludlum as an electrical engineer. While there, he met a beautiful young nurse, Peggy Coogan, whom he married in 1956. That same year, the couple moved to Buffalo, NY, where Norm worked for Electric Controller and Manufacturing Company (EC&M), and Peggy worked as a labor and delivery nurse at the Buffalo General Hospital.

Norm and Peg eventually moved to East Aurora, NY, where they raised their seven children. In 1968, with their family growing, Norm undertook the monumental task of moving their newly acquired 150-year old farmhouse, which was standing in the way of the "new" Route 400, from Olean Road to 1933 Sweet Road. The charming old house became their warm and happy family home for the next 30 years.

Norm worked as an electrical engineer and manufacturer's representative at a number of well-respected firms throughout his career. He loved to sing, and his distinctive tenor voice could be heard at weekly masses at Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in East Aurora, where he and Peggy attended with their children. He later became a lector for the church for a number of years.

Norm and Peggy loved to spend time with their children, never missing an athletic event in which their kids competed, a concert in which they played, a school play or assembly in which they participated, or an honors assembly at which they were recognized. They had many friends in the East Aurora community and they attended various events and dinner dances through the years, where they were known as the "Fred and Ginger" of East Aurora.

Norm was an avid golfer and a Buffalo Bills fan. Norm was known to all for his integrity, his intelligence, his commitment to his work, his kind and gentle manner, his humor, and his love for and dedication to his family. He was a devoted husband and father, the uncle whom everyone loved, and a dear friend to all. He will be dearly missed.

Surviving Norm is his wife, Margaret (Peggy); his children, Laurie Stroth Aloi (Bob), Leslie Stroth Wickham (Landon), Tim Stroth (Denise Litz, girlfriend), Tom Stroth (Theresa), Dave Stroth (Kate), Philip Stroth and Mary Stroth Hodge (Chris); his grandchildren, Pete, Betsy, Katie, Sam, T.J., Ella, Isabel, Connor, Heyward and Maggie; his sisters-in-law, Lois Stroth and Rae Cassidy; his brothers-in-law, Jack Coogan, Walt Lyons (Patty) and David Forney; and 41 nieces and nephews. Norm was predeceased by his brothers, Ronald A. Stroth (2016) and John Wendell Stroth (2013); as well as his father, Samuel (1973); and mother, Florence (2002).