Norman Harms Obituary

Norman Dale Harms

February 21, 1929 - June 12, 2025

Tempe, Arizona - Norman Dale Harms, age 96, passed away peacefully on June 12, 2025. Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Norm lived a full and adventurous life. After graduating from Roosevelt High School in 1947, he signed a professional baseball contract with the New York Giants in 1949. A serious injury cut his baseball career short, and a few years later he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

Using the G.I. Bill, Norm became the first graduate of Vanport College (later Portland State) with a degree in Secondary Education. He ultimately devoted nearly 24 years to the U.S. Army, serving two tours of combat in Vietnam with MACV-SOG as a member of the 5th Special Forces Group ("Green Berets"). During his service he worked closely with Charlie Beckwith best known for founding Delta Force and earned a US Army Bronze Star with an oak leaf cluster for gallantry in action on multiple occasions and was also wounded on multiple occasions. He was then recruited to serve at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he collaborated with Medal of Honor recipient Ralph Puckett, before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1977.

After military retirement, Norm worked over 10 years as the Assistant Commandant at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo and continued to serve his community as a substitute teacher in the San Juan Unified School District. In 1980 he took on the role of freshman baseball coach at La Sierra High School.

He and his wife Marilyn married for 66 years traveled the world together and were stationed in many beautiful places, including Bad Kissingen, West Germany and the coastal city of ?zmir, Turkey on the eastern Aegean Sea.

Together, Marilyn and Norm raised five children in Carmichael sons Kurt, Brad, Scott, and Mike, and daughter Michelle. He is also survived by his brother Bill and sister-in-law Ethel Harms of Lake Oswego, Oregon; ten grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and nephews and nieces.

Norm will be laid to rest at the Arizona Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona this October. He will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.