Former USD 320 Superintendent of Schools Norris D. Wika, 81, died Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023, at Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka. He had Lewy body dementia.
He and his twin brother Norman were born prematurely to Steen and Dorothy (Everhart) Wika of Canton, S. Dak., on Dec. 8, 1941, the day the United States entered World War II. The Wika boys’ incubator was an orange crate with a light bulb.
Following his graduation from Canton High School in 1959, Norris attended Northwestern University. After graduating from NU in 1963, he taught at the elementary and secondary level in Illinois and earned his master’s degree from the University of Iowa. His doctorate in educational administration is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Norris’s career as a school administrator began in Kearney, Neb., where he was Kearney High School assistant principal for three years and then Kearney Middle School principal for the following three years.
After moving to Kansas in 1977, Norris was principal of Santa Fe Middle School in Newton for three years and superintendent of the Peabody-Burns school district for two years before being hired to lead the Wamego school district in 1982. A bond issue to build Wamego Middle School was passed during his 13-year tenure in USD 320.
Norris’s other educational jobs included being interim principal at both Centralia and Neodesha and teaching Public Speaking at Highland Community College’s Wamego campus.
On June 9, 1974, he married the former Penny Wright in Alliance, Neb. She resides at the couple’s home in Wamego. The Wikas hosted five AFS exchange students: Jorge Carbonell from Spain, Hakan Kaya from Turkey (now an American citizen), Carlos Barata from Portugal, Santiago Veintimilla from Ecuador, and Saran Kraitin from Thailand.
Other survivors include his brother Norman (Judie) of Florence, Ariz., sister-in-law Cleo Wright of Lincoln, Neb., four nephews, one niece, and six AFS grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers-in-law John Wright and Robert Wright.
Norris was an avid reader, and he and Penny enjoyed visits to New York City and cruises in North America and Europe. Norris also had land travel trips to Norway and Russia.
The couple was inducted this past fall into the Wamego High School Athletic Hall of Fame for their service to education.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at the Campanella Stewart Funeral Home in Wamego. A private burial will be in the cremation section of the Wamego City Cemetery.
Memorials are suggested to an educational foundation or animal charity of the donor’s choice.
The Campanella Stewart Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.