Noma Sharon Krasney

Noma Sharon Krasney was born September 3, 1952 in New York City to Samuel A. Krasney and Josephine Maria (Slokevich) Krasney. Noma worked at Oklahoma University in Norman, OK for over 10 years. Her latest position as Facilities Coordinator was a job in which she found great personal satisfaction.

When Noma set her mind on a task, she accomplished it. Having left her undergraduate art program at Bard College, NY after two years, six years later she decided to finish her degree—and get a couple more. Beginning with night school as she worked a full-time job, Noma worked to get her BA, then MA, and then her PhD in Counseling Psychology at Northwestern University’s School of Educational and Social Policy.

Counseling in a professional or personal context was what Noma loved, especially in an educational setting. She worked at a number of schools including Arkansas State University, La Guardia Community College and Pratt Institute as Director of all these institutions’ counseling services.

Noma found true love twice—with the same man. She and Kirk Bjornsgaard dated in college at Bard. When their lives separated they re-met 30 years later, across time and across miles. It didn’t take long for Noma and Kirk to fall back in love. They married in June, 2000. Kirk passed away in April, 2009.

Noma was unafraid to reinvent herself, and she took on studying finance and accounting, using these skills in her most recent job. More than numbers, Noma was a people person, mentoring younger employees in their jobs and their lives. She had deep and long-lasting friendships.

Noma enjoyed reading mystery and sci-fi novels. She loved art and had a wonderful sense of color and design which she used in furnishing and renovating her home. Perhaps the most favorite things in Noma’s life were her two shelties, Kendrick and Nyx.

Noma is preceded in death by her husband, Kirk, and her parents.

She is survived by her brother Keith Krasney and wife Megan of New York City; by sister Melanie “Zoe” Krasney of Albuquerque; niece Alexandra; nephews Tobias and Dashiell; stepson Jordan Bjornsgaard of Tulsa; stepdaughter Kelsey Bjornsgaard of Amsterdam, Netherlands; and many cousins and friends.