Norman Joseph Peryea, 98, of Woodstock, passed away on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, at Shenandoah Memorial Hospital.

Norm was born on Jan. 20, 1927, into a French-speaking farm family in Alder Bend, New York, the twelfth of thirteen children of John and Anna (nee Miller) Peryea. Though he grew up during the Great Depression, he recalled of that time, "We heard about the depression, but on the farm, we never wanted for food."

Commenting on the primitive nature of his family home—it had neither electricity nor indoor plumbing—he quipped, "Sure, we had running water. Here's a bucket. Run down to the creek and get some water."

A man of The Greatest Generation, Norm joined the Navy in 1944 and served in the Pacific theatre fighting at Leyte Gulf, Okinawa, and numerous unnamed engagements. After the war, he enlisted in the newly formed U.S. Air Force, drawing assignments around the world, including Korea (another combat tour), Canada, and Germany, plus stateside tours in Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. While stationed in Pennsylvania, Norm met the heart-stopping Claire Voigtsberger of Philadelphia. They were married in 1950 and stayed devoted to each other for 66 years, until Claire passed away in 2016. In 1965, Norm retired from the Air Force at Plattsburg Air Force Base, New York, just a few miles from where he had been born.

Following retirement from the Air Force, Norm worked for 17 years as a supervisor at the IBM semiconductor fabrication plant in Essex Junction, Vermont, retiring from IBM in 1982. In the mid-1990's, he and Claire moved from snowy Vermont to sunny Florida and spent the next 20 years in Port St. Lucie. Finally, in 2015, they moved to Woodstock, Virginia, where they lived with their daughter and her husband.

Norm is survived by his younger sister, Christine Peryea Shephard, of Vancouver, British Columbia, and five children: Gary Peryea and his wife, Brenda, of Huntsville, Texas; Frank Peryea and his wife, Betsy, of Wenatchee, Washington; Cindy and her husband, Frank Mullen, of Woodstock; and two more sons, Joe and Norman, Jr., both of Wolcott, Vermont; plus ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He is also survived by dozens of cousins, nieces, and nephews in northern New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Norm was a member of American Legion Post 199 in Woodstock and VFW Post 2447 in Edinburg. He will be interred next to Claire this summer at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph, Vermont. Memorial donations may be made to Blue Ridge Hospice, whose attentive staff helped Norm live comfortably at home during this past year.