An emotional gathering of family, friends and customers watched as Norma Fay Henry, assisted by her many grandchildren, cut her 50th birthday cake on March 20.

For Henry, it is somewhat of a miracle. “I was born with a hole in my heart”. She shares with Thursday Life. “Doctors didn’t expect me to live. In fact, I was in hospital September last for five days, the result of a mild heart attack.”

Not only has Henry bounced back, (although her doctor has warned her to slow down), but she is able to stand proud in her magnificent, spacious home and really enjoy the party.

This is home, a place achieved by dint of blood, sweat and tears. Every guest wants a turn at the mike. They all want to tell her just how special she is.

Popular deejay, Roundhead, and Nitty Kutchie take turns at the mike. Family friend and personal physician, Dr Jephthah Ford, speaks to Henry, the humanitarian who on Christmas Day feeds as many street children as she can find. She also (we are told) feeds quite a few who come to the restaurant hungry, but with no money.

Solomon McDaniel of McD’s fame takes his turn at the mike too. The good vibes continue till the wee hours of the morning.

When Thursday Life caught up with Henry a week later it’s much quieter, with more time to reflect on a journey of culinary excellence and personal achievement that started with her mother, Evadney Henry, in the late 40s at what is now Midway Mall and continues today as Norma Lou’s restaurant at 31 Whitehall Avenue.

“It all began,” shares Henry, “at Swallowfield All-Age. I was always interested in baking and cooking. Home Economic classes were where I always could be found. In fact, many times I was marked absent by other teachers who didn’t know where I was.”

Henry left school with her passion for home economics still intact and started selling ground provisions as well as cooking a little roast fish, soup, as well as roast beef on the streets. The business thrived with persons coming for miles to enjoy her cooking. Twenty years later, Henry, a single parent of four who lost her mother two years ago, is proud to share with Thursday Life that “it couldn’t be better”.

“A lot of my dreams have come true, and I have done my mother proud,” she says.

Henry has done herself proud too, moving the food off the streets to the back of her mother’s home and fully expanding the restaurant. Along the way she has also moved from a board house to rented quarters and now turns the key to her own home. Jamaicans and foreigners alike seek out Miss Norma for hearty and delicious Jamaican fare. Her stew pork is legendary. It is a favourite of Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke. Musicians love her home-style cooking, too – Bounty Killer, Elephant Man and Beenie Man. She shares an anecdote about popular deejay Beenie Man who, upon his release from hospital, immediately made a call to Henry’s son, Chris, for some chicken foot soup.

Life is much slower now for Norma Henry, as her two sons – Chris and Karl – and daughter Karlene are full time in the business. There’s time for godchildren, Sundays at Hellshire and lots of time to dote on her seven grandchildren and many adopted ones. Eschew all thoughts however, of an inactive mother and grandmother. Henry is at Coronation Market most mornings in search of the freshest provisions for the restaurant. Once home, she starts prepping, and-yes-there are visits to the restaurant to keep in touch with customers and friends.

Henry’s philosophy is perhaps a simple one. “I’m a firm believer in family and have tried to embrace all. I know what it is to be at rock bottom, and to still believe that poor me could make it. You can’t be too poor to think highly of yourself. You can’t be too poor to go out there and survive.

Thanks to good friends and my faith in God, I have achieved.

The other day when I was sick in hospital, I said to one of the nurses: ‘if I die, I would have left my family with a roof over their head.’ I meant it.”