Norman F. Dritch Obituary (1940 - 2015)

Norman was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma and moved to Tulsa with his mother when he was three. He graduated from Will Rogers High School in 1958. An active member of AZA, Norman held various offices and was elected President of his chapter. He attended the University of Oklahoma and was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu. After leaving OU, Norman enlisted in the U.S. Army for six months active duty and finished in the U.S. Army Reserves. Following his discharge In May of 1961, Norman returned to Ponca City to join his father in various business endeavors. He also married the love of his life, his wife of 53 years, Yetta Kalpin Dritch. In 1969, the family moved to Houston, Texas and Norman began a 20 year career in retail management with Foley's Department Stores. As store manager, he oversaw Foley's restaurants and began a life-long love of the food industry. Ultimately, Norman opened The Culpepper Burger Company in downtown Houston. Surrounded by 50-story office buildings, the restaurant became a lunch and after work hotspot for downtown workers. Norman was featured in the Houston Business Journal for his outstanding food and service. The Texas oil bust of 1986 basically closed downtown Houston and the family felt it was time to cut its losses. The children were grown and Yetta's family encouraged them to move to Great Bend, Kansas to help expand the existing scrap iron business by developing a car crushing branch. Norman traveled all over Kansas buying junk cars, trucks and farm machinery and then running the crews and equipment to crush them in the field and transport them to market to be melted down into pipe and steel. After three years they found Great Bend was just too small and the winters were just too cold. Norman's love of food continued to call him and they ended up in northern California where Norman did restaurant consulting work and selling food and equipment to restaurants and institutions for Sysco Foods. When he retired in 2005, they moved to Tucson to be nearer to Yetta's brother and sister-in-law. In 2010, they moved to Sun City. Norman loved to tell everyone that he did not want to move to Oro Valley but that he'd done it for Yetta. The next works out of his mouth were, "and it was the best move we ever made." Norman loved it here, loved his home, and he loved his family. Together they had two beautiful children, Marshall, who is now deceased, and Andrea, who with her husband Jon and their two boys, live in Memphis. Marshall had one son, Joseph, who now lives in eastern Tennessee. In addition, Norman is survived by his half-sister, Myra Greenburg, and the brother he never had, his brother-in-law, Barry Kalpin and his sister-in-law, Diane Bart-Kalpin. Life always has its challenges, but Norman's life was full. He often mentioned how blessed he was to have his family as close as the phone or the airport , and to have the friends he made through his life. He loved to cook, bowl and play poker. He considered himself a "news junkie" and would love to debate hot topics. He was known for his wit, his laughter, his sense of right and wrong, his twinkling blue eyes, and his very firm handshake. He was a loving husband and father who was very proud of his family. May his memory be for a blessing.