Norman Houtz died in Lincolnshire, IL following complications from a progressive illness. He was 89 years old. Norm was born on December 22nd, 1934 in Buffalo, New York, the middle child of Clara Pauline Williamson Houtz and Ray Clyde Houtz.

As a child, Norm was quiet and introspective. He was always a good student, especially in math and sciences. He enjoyed sports and building model airplanes with great precision. His piano teacher recommended stopping lessons as Norm was less interested in learning how to play music and more interested in how the piano was put together and just wanted to look inside of it.

Norm, along with his younger sister Irene and older brother Ken, moved several times as the family relocated for their father’s job opportunities. They lived in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois. When he was 14, moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania when his father was transferred to the Wilmington, DE headquarters of Dupont. He graduated from West Chester High School in 1952 where he played basketball.

Norm’s father, who had a PhD in Chemistry, very much wanted him to study Chemistry. They toured many college chemistry labs, none of which interested Norm. As they were en route to visit Drexel University’s chemistry lab, Norm picked up a college syllabus and started flipping through the courses. As he read “Design of Structures,” “Machine Design,” “Fluid Mechanics” and various other Mechanical Engineering courses, a light bulb went off. He knew what he wanted to study.

Norm received a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1956 and a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1958. He was in the Air Force ROTC program during his first 2 years at Penn State, a requirement for Engineering students at a Land Grant school. Norm attended his 50th class reunions for both high school and college.

After completing his Masters degree, Norm took a job with Goodyear and moved to Akron, Ohio. He worked on many interesting and futuristic technologies, including inflatables. He spoke of development of an inflatable military jeep that was dropped from an airplane for troops to deploy in remote combat areas.

As a degreed engineer, Norm was called to serve in the U.S. Army Critical Skills Program. He went to Fort Knox, KY to do basic training and begin a military technical assignment. However, this program was canceled, and he returned home after about 3 months.

Always interested in auto mechanics, Norm built a car from scratch in his twenties. He welded a frame together and acquired parts from junkyards. One of his colleagues from Goodyear entered him in a design competition unbeknownst to him and he won first place.

Norm met his wife Nancy, who was living in Boston at the time, through The Scientific Introduction Society, one of the first “snail mail” dating services. They each saw an advertisement in a magazine and filled out a lengthy questionnaire. They quickly discovered that they shared many values and goals. They corresponded via mail for many months. Nancy fell in love with Norm’s letters before ever meeting him. After many plane trips back and forth, they met each other’s families and began making plans. Norm and Nancy were married at the Free Church in Andover, MA on June 5th, 1965.

They settled in Enfield, CT and raised two children. Norm worked for the Hamilton Standard division of United Technologies for 12 years. His areas of expertise were analysis, materials, and failure modes. He worked on a problem in which birds were getting sucked into aircraft engines.

In 1977 Norm changed jobs, moved the family to Rockford, IL and began working for Sundstrand Corporation, where he stayed for the next 17 years until he retired at age 60. Norm held a senior position as a stress analyst, and worked on many aerospace applications including fluid handling devices and fuel pumps used in both commercial and military aircraft.

Norm designed their Rockford home and spent the following years working on many home improvement projects. He built a screened-in porch on the back, a greenhouse for Nancy’s plants, a library in the basement and made structural modifications to the roof trusses to build a second-floor laundry room over the garage.

In addition to home improvement and auto mechanics, Norm enjoyed watching the Chicago Bears and was always fond of cats.

At age 64, Norm was diagnosed with type two diabetes. He spent the next few years studying the disease, reading over 100 books. He eventually adopted a strict regime that kept him healthy over the years to come and even reversed several symptoms. In his early 80s Norm developed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which interfered with his diabetes in ways that were not fully understood by the medical profession and presented new challenges.

Norm spent much of his last years caring for his wife Nancy, who succumbed to Alzheimers in December of 2023 after more than a 7-year battle.

Norm was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years Nancy May Adams Houtz, brother Kenneth Eugene Houtz and sister-in-law Catherine Witherage Houtz, brother-in-law Ray Morth and brother-in-law George James (Jim) Adams, Jr. He is survived by his children Elizabeth (Liz) Adams Houtz, Wesley Adams Houtz, daughter-in-law Angela Roux Kirkwood Houtz, grandsons Brandon Raymond Houtz and Trevor Dylan Houtz, sister Carol Irene Houtz Morth, sister-in-law Lorraine Adams, nephews Michael Ray Houtz, Philip James Houtz, David Hessel, Steven Adams, Jeffrey Adams, and nieces Vivian Rae Hessel and Linda Adams.

A brief service will be held at 2PM on Saturday, June 1st at Arlington Cemetery, 6202 Charles St Rockford, IL 61108, following an 11AM memorial service for Norm’s wife Nancy at Spring Creek United Church of Christ, 4500 Spring Creek Road, Rockford, IL 61114.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Pennsylvania State University: https://secure.ddar.psu.edu/s/1218/2014/wide.aspx?sid=1218&gid=1&pgid=3509

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