Norma J. Damp, 74, Vero Beach, died Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002, at a Vero Beach hospital.

Mrs. Damp worked for 41 years in the telecommunications industry before retiring in 1987. She was a district manager for GTE Corp. in Alpena and Adrian, Mich., and was division manager at Norwalk, Ohio. She was a property agent for Fischer Lake Island in Sebastian, Fla.

She was born June 12, 1928, in Oskaloosa, to Glenn and Nellie Hamm. She graduated from high school in Van Nuys, Calif., in 1946. She had lived in Kansas, Michigan and Ohio before moving to Florida in 1987. She made her first skydive on her 65th birthday, and she made one each birthday afterward through age 70.

Mrs. Damp served on the Sebastian, Fla., city council from 1992 to 1997 and on the planning and zoning board in the 1990s. She was an officer of the Sebastian Elks Lodge, a member of the board of directors of the Sebastian Chamber of Commerce and a former member of the Sebastian Highland Property Owners Association. She also was a member of the Sebastian Rotary Club, Indian River County Taxpayers Association, Polish American Club, Vero Beach Jaycees and the Republican Club. She was past worthy matron of the Order of the Eastern Star in Michigan. She also was active in theater in Michigan and Florida and was past president of the Vero Beach Theater Guild.

She married Tom Taber in 1951. He died in 1969. She married Jim Damp in 1972. He died in 1996.

Survivors include two sons, Larry Taber, Vero Beach, and Tim Taber, Kalamazoo, Mich.; two sisters, Una O'Gara, Hays, Kan., and Glenna Dick, Overland Park, Kan.; and a brother, Keith Hamm, Perry, Kan.

Friday, October 3, 2002 Topeka Capital