Norman Dean Van Wagenen was born on February 23,1954 and passed away peacefully on November 18, 2024, after a short battle with health issues. He was the son of Belle and Dean Van Wagenen of Provo, UT and his two living siblings include Julie Van Wagenen Aidukaitis of Provo, UT, and Ken Van Wagenen of Pasadena, CA. His older brother Paul Van Wagenen of Houston, TX passed away last year.

Norman graduated from Provo High School in 1972, served a distinguished Church mission to Hamburg, Germany, and graduated with honors from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor's in Economics in 1978.

He was best known as the owner and purveyor of the Van Wagenen Finance Company, a collateral-based loan office operating within Utah County. Norman's business, Van Wagenen Finance, became a fixture in Provo/Orem after Norman's father, Dean Van Wagenen, founded the business in 1957. Norman demonstrated an incredible interest as a teenager speaking with the clientele, and evaluating merchandise and making wisely valued loans. Norman and Dean hired most all of the family's friends who were interested, to work in the "store", as it was affectionately called.

Norman bought the business outright from the family in the early '90s and he never looked back. He built the business into a multi-million-dollar enterprise, specializing in all types of new and used goods for sale. He was perhaps best known for offering the largest inventory of firearms in the western United States with over 7,400 guns for sale at its peak. There never was a day that Norman and friends didn't laugh, joke, and make "deals" at the store with local residents and customers. As guns and the Second Amendment came under repeated political attacks, Norman sold the business around 2010. He relocated to sunny Southern Utah, followed by Mesquite, Nevada.

After retirement, Norman found great joy in exploring the world around him, especially in the areas of southern Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the mountains, trails, lakes, and terrain in these areas, and loved sharing his knowledge and appreciation for the beauty and history of the lands he adventured into. Everywhere he went, he selflessly made sure to leave the areas he visited better and cleaner than he found them.

Norman was married in the SLC temple in 1978 to Annette LeBaron of American Fork and they had two children, Charlotte Van Wagenen Finlinson and Jerry Christopher Van Wagenen, who have remained in Utah County near where they were raised, along with Norman's three grandchildren. The family has been at Norman's bedside non-stop as his health deteriorated. They will always remember and love him very much.

A memorial service will be held at Wing Mortuary, 118 East Main Street in Lehi, Utah on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 11:00am, with a viewing at 10:00am. There will also be a live stream on Wing Mortuary's Facebook page at 11:00am for those who would like to connect virtually. Norman will then be buried at the Van Wagenen family plot in the Provo City Cemetery.