Norma Arnold (neé Gustavson) is a main character from the original show The Wonder Years. She is the widowed wife of Jack Arnold, and the mother of Karen, Wayne, and Kevin Arnold, and the daughter of Karl and Jane Gustavson. For most of the show's time period, she worked as a housewife, as was typical of most moms in the 1960s. Part of the reason was that Norma didn't finish her college degree after meeting Jack and thereafter marrying him. As her kids grow old enough by the end of the series to take better care of themselves, she eventually gets her degree and begins work at a software startup called Micro Electronics.
Unlike her husband, Norma is more friendly and upbeat, as well as less conservative and increasingly yearning to break out of her status as a housewife. She usually serves as a mediator between Jack and her oldest daughter, Karen, whenever the two are arguing.
She was portrayed in the show by Alley Mills.
Biography[]
Childhood[]
Norma Gustavson was born on March 22, 1930, to Karl and Jane Gustavson. During sixth grade, she earned a citizenship ribbon and her parents were proud of her.
Teenage/College Years[]
Her high school sweetheart was Roger Baldwin. They graduated in June 1948. After high school, she and Roger almost got married until Roger decided to go to medical school.
When she was 19 years old, she met a man named Jack Arnold, and during that time she told him she was sick of living in her house and she wanted more out of town than the small town she grew up in. and once told her parents, but they didn't hear her, and Jack later said, "Parents are like that sometimes." During that time, her parents became disapproving of their daughter wanting to marry him.
In college, she was the boyfriend of Vic Claybourne. During a school dance, Jack and Vic had a big fight over her, and Jack eventually won her over, and Vic, who was heartbroken, never talked to him since, but Jack later mentioned, "It was worth it." She dropped out of college in her sophomore year, and they later got married in 1951, and she left her parents house and got her own house with Jack.
Adult Years[]
Meanwhile, her husband, Jack Arnold was fighting in the Korean War, and after the war, they had a daughter named Karen Arnold. Soon after, their other sons, Kevin and Wayne Arnold were born.
She becomes a stay-at-home mom until she gets a job working at RFK Junior High, Kevin's school. It embarrasses Kevin, and she later gets fired by Mr. Diperna after just a couple days of work. Norma decides to go back to college and graduates in December 1972. In the middle of 1973, she gets a job working in a start up computer company and makes good revenue. For a few years, even after Kevin graduated high school, she worked her way up to chairman of the board and became a successful businesswoman.
Meanwhile, her daughter, Karen, marries her boyfriend, Michael, and they move to Alaska. They have a child, and Norma becomes a proud grandmother. Her husband later dies in 1975, and she is left a widow.