Norma began hard hat diving in 1949. By 1957 she’d made over 4,000 dives in heavy gear and was the second woman to join California’s Piledrivers, Bridge & Dockworkers Union (Local 2375). Norma held the women’s world depth record for diving to 220 feet on air in the 1950s and also performed for the glass bottom boats at Catalina Island. In her 50 years as a commercial diver she served as foreman and tender on pile-wrapping and harbor maintenance jobs, did harbor inspections and traveled the world training other commercial divers.