Driving Miss Norma: She chucked cancer treatment, rode in Hilton Head parade, now we’re in her book

Miss Norma is gone now, but she’s still driving home a good point.

The “Say YES to Living Tour” celebrating her inspiring life will come to Hilton Head Island and Bluffton later this month.

Miss Norma was the 90-year-old lady who enraptured the nation last year when she chucked cancer treatment for an RV trip around America.

She rode in the Hilton Head Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and met the Budweiser Clydesdales in Bluffton.

But her excellent adventure started about months earlier.

Her husband died and two days later she was diagnosed with stage four uterine cancer.

The doctor laid out options for an immediate operation, chemotherapy and radiation. She told him no. “We’ll just leave it be.”

“I’m 90 years old,” she said. “I’m hitting the road.”

Norma Bauerschmidt left Presque Isle, Mich., with her doctor’s blessings, aboard a 36-foot motor home with her son and daughter-in-law, Tim Bauerschmidt and Ramie Liddle, and 8-year-old standard poodle, Ringo.

They arrived on Hilton Head Island 7,000 miles later, by then their every move cheered by a quarter of a million people following her Facebook page, “Driving Miss Norma.”

Miss Norma spent a lot of time here, and the world loved it. So did the chamber of commerce.

“It’s not every day you make the front page of the Beijing newspaper or the ‘Today’ show for that matter, but ‘Driving Miss Norma’ was becoming a worldwide phenom as she waved her way through our St. Patrick’s Day parade last year,” said Charlie Clark, vice president for communications at the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.

Miss Norma died last October. A memorial service was held in Harbor, Washington.

But not before she covered 13,000 miles and slept in 32 states.

She rode in a hot air balloon, saw the Grand Canyon — and planted a red bud tree in Bluffton’s Dubois Park in memory of her husband, Leo.

Now her son and daughter-in-law have written a book about the adventure. “Driving Miss Norma,” was published this month by HarperOne.

Her Hilton Head and Bluffton experiences are recorded in Chapter 10: “Kindness — Hilton Head Island and Charleston.”

The authors will be here for two events, according to the chamber of commerce:

▪  May 18: 5 to 7 p.m., at Reilley’s Grill and Bar, 7D Greenwood Drive.

▪  May 20: 3 to 5 p.m., at the pavilion in Dubois Park in Bluffton, near Leo’s tree. Refreshments of cake and root beer, two of Miss Norma’s favorite treats, will be served.

Books will not be sold at the events, but the authors will sign those bought in advance.

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Driving Miss Norma: She chucked cancer treatment, rode in Hilton Head parade, now we’re in her book."