Grapettes lose a great coach

[halskinner]

I received an email this am from the Norwood family.

Laura Norwood was the long time coach of the Grapettes 12u team.

She was a very familiar site at ballparks and will be missed.

Our prayers go out to the family.

Hal and Kathy Skinner
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Here is a copy of the email.


Hello to everyone! It is with sadness that I have to tell ya’ll that Laura Norwood died tonight Jan, 11, 2009. At the hour of 10:20. She was gathered around friends and family sharing stories of fun adventures that they experienced with her, she passed away happily.

Funeral services have not been made at this moment. As soon as they have we give information. If you would like to pay respects to the family that would be very considerate. The family is trying to get a little get-together in honor of Laura with all of her softball friends. If anyone could help with this I would really love your help.

Thank You,

Sarah Norwood
1913 Poppy Lane
Ceres, CA 95307

 

[halskinner]

Celebration of life for Laura

I Gleaned this from another board. It was posted by Corey Reid of the Grapettes.

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There will be a celebration of Life for former Ca. Grapette 12u coach Laura Norwood who passed away last week.

I had the pleasure of coaching with Laura for 3 seasons and am looking for players that played on any of our teams. If you played for the California Sacrifice 12u(1998) or the Grapettes 12u teams in 99 or 2000 and are interested in attending this event please contact me at coreyreid@sbcglobal.net.

This will be held on January 31st at 1pm at the Fishermen's Club located 10800 Maze Blvd. Modesto.

Laura was without a doubt the reason why I am involved in this sport. (Sorry guys, blame her) She became my best softball buddy. There was a time when you would not see her without seeing me somewhere close by. We would watch ANY softball games in the area if we werent playing together.
One of my best memories with her was our trios to Lake Tahoe. We all laughed at Laura as she would walk around the casino with her bucket of nickels. And she would complain all night because she lost 2 dollars.


She absolutely loved this sport and has coached hundreds of the best young softball players to come out of this area over the years. When you look at the Modesto Bee's All District selections for softball, it is littered with girls that got their start in ASA "A" ball with Laura Norwood.