Norman Gramlich Callaway

December 19, 1927 - October 11, 2021 Woodland, CA

Norman was born in Chicago, IL. and spent his boyhood years in Illinois and Nebraska. He moved with his family to Red Bluff, CA. in 1939. He attended and graduated from Red Bluff Union High School in 1944, and shortly thereafter enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served in the Signal Corps as a cryptographer (codes and ciphers) and spent the majority of his Army tour at the Pentagon. He graduated from Stanford University, a psychology major, in 1950 planning for a career in psychiatry. Then led by the Holy Spirit he enrolled in seminary at Boston University School of Theology where he graduated in 1953 with a M.A. in Sacred Theology. On April 2, 1950, one week after graduation from Stanford, Norman married Ardith Schrepel in San Diego. They were married for 69 years. They had four children, Susan (Glenn) Ogawa, Ellen (Edward) Cundiff, Stephen (Joan) Callaway, and Carol (Paul) Head. Eight grandchildren, now grown, were affectionately and collectively known as ‘the Great Eight.’ He was a great-grandfather to six adored great-grandchildren. Rev. Callaway was ordained in the California-Nevada Conference of the Methodist Church in 1954 and served 40 years as a UM church pastor in northern California. Congregation members remember his depth of his pastoral care, the wideness and forwardness of his thinking, and the contagious energy he brought to his work. He gave leadership to the larger church on conference, regional, and national committees. Post-graduate study at various seminaries kept him apprised of new discoveries and thrusts in the field of theology. He and his late wife Ardith moved to Woodland at his retirement. Norman was a member of many groups in Woodland and Yolo County. He volunteered with Friends of the Woodland Public Library for many years; he wrote a weekly book review for “Friends” published in the Woodland Daily Democrat. His contributions of new books to the Woodland Library have been commemorated with a bookplate that bears his name and features his signature bow-ties. He served on the Yolo County Grand Jury in the 1990s and on the Board of Yolo County Historical Society. He termed out after 12 years on the Board of the Yolo County Food Bank. He was a Volunteer Chaplain at Woodland Memorial Hospital and a member of its Ethics Committee. He and Ardith were faithful participants in the monthly Peace Vigil at the old Courthouse and were active in the Woodland United Methodist Church. The celebration of his life will be held at the Woodland United Methodist Church on Saturday November 13, 2021, at 2 p.m. It will be live streamed from the church’s YouTube page. Memorial gifts may be made to the Yolo Food Bank, the Yolo Diaper Bank, or United Methodist Committee on Relief (advance.umcor.org).