Norm How was always fond of sweets. So when he saw a young woman selling candy to raise money for the YWCA, he struck up a conversation with her. That initial meeting with Fran would lead to a marriage that lasted nearly 75 years. Their partnership was one enriched with service, and it still continues to this day.
Norm and Fran were well-known for their involvement and service in the SDA church and the several communities where they resided over their lives together. Settling in Lacombe, AB in 1993, they became involved with College Heights church, with Norm eventually becoming a board member. This sowed the seeds for a great connection with Eric Rajah, the co-founder of A Better world. Eric knew Norm as a man who was well-respected as a minister, secretary of the Canadian Union Conference, and even the editor of the Canadian Adventist Messenger.
Norm’s role as a board member, however, is what really allowed the two to connect. When ABW first started, the CHSDA church board oversaw the organization. Today, Eric remembers his friendship with Norm and Fran with gratefulness and admiration. “They lived their faith through serving others,” Rajah said. “He was very passionate about service,” Eric remembers firsthand. “They regularly contributed to projects when they were alive—they gave their money to building schools and water wells.”
This introduction to ABW began a long-lasting legacy of support, which also inspired their family members to get involved. The couple had two sons, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Robyn, one of their granddaughters, volunteered on physiotherapy trips to Kenya with the ABW Rehab Team.
Norm and Fran lived a life full of love and service that took them, too, outside of Canada. After their retirement, they volunteered with a charity called Seniors Over Seas, spending nearly two years in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt. Norm passed away in June 2011 at the age of 95 while Fran died two days short of her 106th birthday in May 2018.
This long legacy of service inspired their son David and his family to leave a financial gift in honour of Norm and Fran in support of the construction of the Professor Hill Rehabilitation Centre at the Kendu Adventist Hospital in Kenya. Pastor Ron Sydenham, ABW Board Chair, and Eric express their gratitude to the Hows for making a lasting difference in the lives of many young people in Kendu Bay.
