My Visit With Aunt Norma

Around here, people call her a lot of different things.

Aunt Norma. Dr. Champion. Sometimes even a Senator.

For Norma Champion, those names tell a story. Each one marks a place where she connected with people along the way.

“And I can usually tell how they know me,” she said with a smile.

Her path hasn’t followed a straight line. She grew up in Oklahoma and later made her way to Springfield to attend Central Bible College. That move changed everything. It’s where she met her husband and where her life started to take shape.

Television came next. Almost by accident.

She walked into a station just to learn about it. Ended up auditioning on the spot for a children’s program she hadn’t even seen. A week later, she had the job.

For nearly 30 years, she became a familiar face on KY3’s Children’s Hour.

“I didn’t know television,” she said. “But I knew kids.”

And that made all the difference.

Later, she spent decades teaching at Evangel, helping students understand that communication isn’t about talking to a crowd. It’s about reaching one person at a time.

Politics came the same way as everything else. Unexpected. A conversation. A door opening.

She stepped through it.

These days, life looks quieter. Champion is legally blind now, but she says she sees people in a different way.

“I hear them. I feel their presence,” she said.

Mornings are slower. Coffee by the fireplace. Time to reflect.

“I have coffee with God every morning,” she said.

It’s a shift from doing to simply being.

And after a life spent pouring into others, it seems to fit just right.