Norma May Eddins

Mrs. Norma E. (May) Eddins of Tampa, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia, wife and mother of three children, passed in her sleep early Saturday morning, January 12, 2019. She was 88 years old.

A fourth-generation Floridian, Norma graduated from St. Petersburg High School and went on to St. Petersburg Junior College and then Florida State University where she received a bachelor’s degree in music education. She taught elementary school music for 38 years in the Hillsborough County Public Schools. A lifelong learner, Norma returned to school mid-career and earned her master’s degree in education at the University of South Florida in Tampa. In retirement she enjoyed spending time with her husband John traveling, attending musical and theatrical performances, square dancing, and quilting. After spending the first part of her retirement in Tampa, she and John relocated to Atlanta, where two of her three children lived.

Norma was preceded in death by her parents, Orin F. May and Florence P. (Wooley) May, two brothers Paul May and Richard May, and her former husband, Mr. Ralph Salls. She is survived by her husband John, her children Eric J. Salls (Colleen), Dean E. Salls (Deborah) and Lee Ann Hantula (Douglas), her sister Edna Firzlaff (Richard), her three grandsons, Eric J. Salls II, Jeremy C. Salls and Dominic Hantula, and her nieces and nephews, Elaine Montgomery, Bret May, Sherrie May, Captain Gary May (Tampa Fire Department), Rick May Jr., Kyle Firzlaff and Elizabeth McGinnis.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 19th, 2019 at Wesley Woods Towers, 1825 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia, at 2:30 PM. Arrangements are being handled by A.S. Turner & Sons of Decatur, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in her memory either to the Foundation of Wesley Woods Chaplaincy Fund or to The Parkinson’s Foundation.