This section will collect various biographic bits, as well as a link to a life timeline.
In the meanwhile, here’s a quick rundown of Norman’s life.
Quick Timeline
He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) in April 1935.
He had an older sister, and old brother, a younger sister, and a younger brother. His little sister died in an accident when he was 3, and his father died due to illness when he was 5.
He was shipped off to the United States in 1953 at age 18, landing in Philadelphia.
In Jan 1954, he joined the US Marines during the Korean War. Because he was not a United States citizen, he remained at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and was not shipped to the battlefield. He was released from active duty in Jan 1957 as a Buck Sergeant.
In Nov 1956, he naturalized as a United States citizen.
He used the GI Bill to attend college at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. He graduated in 1961 with a bachelors degree in Psychology.
He held a variety of short-term jobs after college. He was a house parent at a youth rehab center in Bethesda, MD; a parole officer in Newark, NJ; a recruiter in Cambridge, MA; an assistant bank manager in Boston, MA; a collections agent in Colma, CA; and an insurance adjuster in San Francisco.
After bouncing around quite a bit, he moved to San Francisco in 1965, a city he really enjoyed living in.
In 1966, he started dating Patricia Graham, and they subsequently married in March 1969. They moved to the suburb of San Mateo, buying a house in 1970.
Norman finally started his federal law enforcement career in 1967, when he was hired by US Customs as an investigator in San Francisco. He transferred to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in 1968, which became Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973.
In 1975, he faked his own transfer to the Tucson Arizona office of DEA (there will definitely be a story about this posted).
In 1978, he became a dad when Scott (that’s me!) was born.
In 1985, he was transferred to Detroit, Michigan to work primarily against the mafia.
In 1987, he had a major heart attack. Since he had taken also little vacation and sick time over the years, he was able to retire without returning to the job.
Later that year, he moved the family to the metro Phoenix, Arizona area, eventually buying a home in the suburb of Mesa.
He joined the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office as an Investigator in 1989. He retired on St Patrick’s Day in 2005.
In 1996, he and Patricia split up and eventually divorced. He remained in the family house.
In May 2000, he bought a house in northeast Phoenix, which he called home, until 2020 (though in 2005-2008 he spent a 30-month stint near Sacramento after moving out with a girlfriend).
In 2009, he began dating Carole Schmidt; they were together for ten years before splitting apart in 2019.
In Jan 2020, he suffered heart failure and was hospitalized with additional issues for a month. He also spent 60 days in a skilled nursing facility rehabbing.
On St Patrick’s Day 2020—as the country was shutting down for covid—he moved into an assisted living facility in the Ahwatukee neighborhood of Phoenix, about a mile from Scott’s house.
In Dec 2020, he contracted covid and was subsequently placed on at-home hospice.
On March 31, 2021, he moved from the main building into the “Signature Services / Memory Care” building due to his increased needs.
On April 19, 2021, Scott wheeled him over to the Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers that was next door for a happy hour beer. Several months later, hospice informed us that he had improved enough that he no longer qualified. They continued to frequent Cold Beers several times a week. His final visit was on April 30, 2024.
On May 8, 2024, he had trouble breathing and was transported to Chandler Regional Medical Center and admitted into the ICU.
He passed away in the early morning hours on May 13, 2024.