Norman Dean Jorstad

West Point, 1951

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Gerry Hendricks on December 7, 2007:

Colonel Norman Jorstad Colonel Norman Jorstad, beloved husband of his wife Edye Jorstad died Wednesday 14 November 2007 at his home under hospice care – as the result of a prolonged struggle with a brain tumor. Colonel Jorstad was born and raised in the small town of Norway Illinois and graduated from West Point in 1951. Norm was valedictorian of his High School Class and while at West Point he was involved in many things; He played football - was a star cross country runner and was the Editor of his Classes Graduation Year Book – a very demanding almost full time job. Later on Norman was also the Editor of his West Point Classes 50th Reunion Book - a masterpiece of design, editing and publishing. Norman served over 26 years in the Army – much of it in the Signal Corps - including combat service in Vietnam where he was a communications battalion commander and the Communications Officer for Ambassador Bunker. Norman married his first wife Lillian West - Christmas 1951– and then joined the 1st Armored Div. at Ft. Hood Texas before joining the 2nd Armored Div. for a tour in Germany - followed by a tour in the Army R&D Command during which his first wife unfortunately died of heart failure. Norman was then very fortunate to have met Edye – his beloved wife for the past 36 years while a student at the Naval War College. He and Edye enjoyed a wonderful “high light of his career” tour together in Germany where Norman was the commander of the 4th Signal Group and Community Commander of Karlsruhe Germany with over 250 communications sites scattered all over Europe. Norm and Edye then returned to the states where he was involved in many high level Army and Department of Defense activities – prior to his 1977 retirement. After his retirement Norm formed AGTEC Associates an agricultural export firm engaged in what started as a very successful attempt to bring turkey raising and turkey meat to people in the middle east -- until the disruption caused by the Shah of IRAN being ousted brought it all to a halt. Norm also formed his own consulting firm JORAD Associates in 1979 and worked first as a consultant and then as Director of the Technology Identification and Analysis Center for the Institute of Defense Analyses (IDA) for over 25 years before his death at the age of 79. This work involved working with the top scientists and technical people throughout our government, our US industry and our colleges and universities - to identify the technologies critical to our national security -- and negotiating agreements with NATO and other involved countries regarding the export and control of these identified critical technologies. Norman’s work at IDA has had – and will continue to have profound effects on US and DoD policies and programs of great importance to our national security. Because of this involvement with so many people, agencies, businesses, colleges and universities – Norman has created an almost endless number of contacts, associates and very, very good friends. Colonel Jorstad was very proud to be of Norwegian heritage; He visited family home sites in Norway several times and completed a very remarkable 500 page book of his family’s history. He was of the Lutheran faith and was very instrumental in establishing a local Lutheran Church. Colonel Jorstads family includes his Wife Edye`s three sons; Matthew Fleck, Michael Fleck and his wife Patty and their son Michael and daughter Sarah and Edye`s son Mitchell Fleck and son Adam and daughter Ashley. Col Jorstad has a surviving older sister and two older brothers as well as a number of nieces and nephews. Memorial services will be held at the Demains Funeral Home at 5308 Backlick Road, Springfield VA 22151 on Saturday 17 November from 1:00 PM till 4:00 PM time. Contributions can be made to the Disabled American Veterans, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH, 45250 or the USO World Headquarters P.O. 96860, Washington D.C. 20077-7677. Colonel Jorstad will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery with services in the Old Chapel starting at 0900 on 15 January 2008. A reception will take place for all funeral attendees at the Ft. Myers Officers Club starting at 10:30 Hours following the funeral. Colonel Jorstad will be dearly missed by many, many people – for a long, long time. -- Gerry Hendricks

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