DeSaegher Continues to Build a Legacy

Many students who participated at this year’s La Palma Days Parade weren’t even born when Norma Nomura DeSaegher was a councilwoman. But if it weren’t for her and the efforts of her colleagues, there might not have been a parade.

As president of the La Palma Women’s Club in 1978, DeSaegher and other members were instrumental in establishing the first La Palma Days Parade, then called the Founder’s Day Parade.

DeSaegher has long been a trailblazer. She was the first Asian American woman to win a seat on the La Palma City Council in 1982. And last month the 59-year-old mother of two became the first Asian American woman ordained in the Southern California/Nevada United Church of Christ Conference. As minister, DeSaegher conducts memorial services, Bible studies and Christian education for adults and children.

Those close to DeSaegher aren’t surprised she became a minister. “Nothing Norma does surprises me,” said Pansy Goto, a friend since high school. “She’s always had the will to accomplish whatever it is she wanted.”

“I love what I’m doing now,” DeSaegher said. I feel that I’m finally doing what I’ve been called to do.”

DeSaegher’s curiosity led her to Christianity as a young girl. She grew up in Hawaii, where she and her parents practiced Buddhism. She would gaze at the nearby church from the Buddhist temple and wonder what it was like. She asked her parents if she could visit the church and they allowed her to go. The fellowship at the church gave her reason to continue going, she said.

“I was lucky that I had very open-minded parents,” said DeSaegher, who was baptized after attending the church for three years.

DeSaegher moved to Cheney, Wash., in 1958 to attend college. In 1969 she and her first husband came to Los Angeles, where she eventually received a degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton.

A visit to Japan in 1992 sparked her interest in the ministry. While there, a priest told her only 1% of the population in Japan was Christian.

“I felt as if God said to me they need to hear my message from one of their own,” DeSaegher said.

“I knew from that moment I wanted to commit myself to the church.”

When she returned to California, DeSaegher enrolled at the Haggard School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa in 1995. She transferred to the Claremont School of Theology two years later, and last May received a master of divinity degree.

Andre Briscoe can be reached at (714) 966-5848