The Iditarod family says goodbye to a dear friend and race volunteer, Norma Delia.  Norma passed away on March 12th, day seven of Iditarod XLIV.  Norma and Joe (also deceased) lived in Skwentna for most of their married life and made their homestead available to the Iditarod for use as a checkpoint.  Both Norma and Joe wore many hats for the race that brought countless volunteers and mushers to their place on the Skwentna River early every March.

Mack, Joe and Norma inspect the checkpoint

The Delia Homestead has been an Iditarod checkpoint for forty-four years now.  When Norma married Joe she became an integral part of the checkpoint and race right  along side Joe.  While Joe broke trail and prepared the river for arriving teams, Norma took care of the hospitality up in the Outback Cabin.  Norma bought food, did the cooking and the serving.  Once the job became too big, Cyndi and Rob Fritz became chief assistant to Joe and Norma.  Norma together with Cyndi lead a group of women known as the Skwentna Sweeties in providing hospitality for the small army of checkpoint volunteers and the Iditarod racers.  They cleaned the Outback cabin, planned meals, shopped, cooked and served.  In the later years, Norma wouldn’t necessarily be in the kitchen but she was there keeping a watchful eye on all that went into providing hospitality Delia style.  She not only had her finger on the pulse of the checkpoint cabin, she was the heart and soul.  

For volunteers and mushers alike, Norma has been their Mother Hen.  She’s talked many through tough times in the early hours of the race.  There’s been a quiet corner to sleep and a hearty meal.  Who wouldn’t feel better after her tender loving care.

Norma and Joe enjoying checkpoint hospitality along with a cup of coffee

Norma and Joe could have written the book on hospitality, theirs was a very special brand.  A person who entered their home as a stranger departed as a friend.  Pilots who had to set down in Skwentna due to bad weather were welcomed and fed by the Delia as were folks traveling the river by boat in the summer or snowmachine in the winter.  Jpurnalist Craig Medrid has said, “The people who’ve warmed themselves against bitter cold or blizzard conditions in Norma and Joe’s home over the years number in the hundreds if not the thousands.”

When Iditarod came around, multitudes of volunteers gathered as family at Norma and Joe’s  on the high bank of the Skwentna River.  Its like a holiday and its celebrated by all with hard work, camaraderie, a sense of service to a greater cause and a job well done.  Considering that Norma and Joe were the role models, how could it be any other way.  

Knowing they’d not be able to stay at their beloved Skwentna Homestead forever, Norma and Joe trained an army of dedicated volunteers.  Skwentna as it’s been known in the past will continue in the future.

In 2013 Norma and Joe Delia received the Joe Redington Iditarod Trail Race Founders Award.  Recounts of the award are chosen for their work in establishing the race.  The award was presented to them at the pre-race Musher’s Banquet in Anchorage.  Although they’ve been an integral part of the Iditarod for many years, it was the first time they had attended the festivities where mushers draw from the mukluk to determine starting positions.

A plague with the second verse of chapter thirteen of Hebrews hung above the door of Norma and Joe’s Skwentna home.  “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”  That verse seems to be the creed Norma and Joe lived by.  Norma has joined Joe as one of those angels.  Thank you Norma for loving Joe and for loving Iditarod and giving so much of yourself to The Last Great Race®.