Mae E. Sorenson Porter Crooks Norgaard 

contributor: 

Oconto County Reporter  
Wednesday, December 13, 2000  

 
 

Mrs. Mae E. Porter (Crooks) Norgaard, 93, Oconto, died Friday morning, December 1, 2000 at Rennes Health Center, West De Pere. She was born May 20, 1907 in Gillett to Martin and Alla T. (Hankwitz) Sorensen. Following their divorce, Alla married Francis E. Porter, who adopted Mae. When she was five, the family moved to Oconto where she grew up, graduating from Oconto High School in 1925. Mae then graduated from the Julliard School of Music in Chicago and in 1928 married Stanley W. Crooks in Chicago. During the Depression, they moved back to Oconto where their only son, Gene, was born.

The family moved to Green Bay in 1935. Mae worked for several ready-to-wear stores and then the H. C. Prange Company for 21 years where she was a buyer for women's uniforms and then high fashions. During this time she also taught piano lessons and was a substitute church organist throughout Green Bay. Mae taught a course in Marketing at NWTC and served on several community boards over the years. She taught Sunday School, served as Sunday School Superintendent, and was on the Board of Deacons at the Union Congregational Church in Green Bay.

Following Stanley's death in 1961, Mae went to work for Norgaard Furs. She and Arthur E. "Bud" Norgaard were married in 1963. In 1966 they bought the property on which Norgaard's of Birch Creek was built.

Surviving are a son, the Rev. Gene Crooks and his wife Patricia, Abrams; two step-daughters, Gena and Andrea, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Mae was preceded in death by Stanley Crooks, her parents, Francis and Alla Porter, and Arthur Norgaard.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday December 16, 2000 at the First Presbyterian Church, 133 Jackson Street; Oconto, where Mae played the organ for many years. The church's new pastor, The Rev. Tom Beck and Mae's son, the Rev. Gene W. Crooks, officiating.

In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, a memorial fund in Mae's name has been established at the Church.

Ackerman Funeral Directors, Oconto are caring for Mae and her family. Raymond B. Ackerman, Jr. Funeral Director.


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