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I was born in Boston, March 24, 1924 to Leo and Alice Norton and lived in several greater Boston cities (Peabody, Wakefield, Woburn) until dad's John Hancock Company transferred him to the Malden agency. We moved to Melrose in the fall of 1931, my parents having bought a home in the Highlands. I received all my public school education in Melrose at the Whittier, Franklin and Roosevelt Schools and graduated from Melrose High in June 1942. Two weeks after graduation I was taking navy training at Newport, R.I.. I served during the war years in the Navy Armed Guard which was comprised of navy gunners mates and signalmen who were detailed to civilian merchant ships for protection and communication. This duty took me to deep sea ports all over the world. I sailed briefly in the merchant Marine after my navy discharge and attained my mates license in the fall of 1946. After attending business school in 1947-48 I was employed in the office of the resident engineer during the construction of the Mystic River (Tobin) bridge. Upon its completion in 1949 I transferred to the offices of the Mystic River Bridge Authority where I was employed until being recalled to active navy duty in January 1951 and remained until my retirement as a Master Chief Quartermaster in 1977. During those active duty years my assignments were many and varied. Among them were training navy recruits in both Great Lakes and San Diego and serving on destroyers, ocean going tugs and aircraft carriers. Two of my more interesting billets were as senior instructor at the Chief Petty Officers' Academy in Pensacola, Florida and shore duty in Taiwan as a member of our Military Assistance Group to the then fledgling Taiwanese government. I was fortunate during all this time to have had my family (wife and two daughters) either with me on shore duty, including overseas, or in my home ports. Stateside duties were spent home ported or stationed ashore in Rhode Island, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, and California. To this day my daughters reflect back with pleasure on their lives as "navy brats" with all the cultural and learning opportunities it afforded them. They both now live in California with families of their own. Sadly, my wife during those navy years, died long ago. My second wife, Estelle, died in 1993. We had a nice life traveling and enjoying a home near Palm Springs, CA. I now live with my present wife, Kathleen, in a suburb of Seattle, Washington. We have several children and grandchildren between us and it makes for an interesting life as folks of our age can all attest. I am presently looking forward to my 80th birthday bash being thrown by the family at a resort in Mendocino, California. I keep busy these days mainly with Kathleen's family activities since they live nearby and they are colorful. My physical agenda is comprised of long walks along the Green River (unfortunately of Green River Killer fame) and will be commencing my tenth year of senior softball in March. We, like many of us old folks, are fortunate in that we do our share of traveling. Kathleen is a very accomplished oil painting artist and until recently has conducted classes at a local community college. I am now looking forward to a happy association with all my fellow Silver Stringers.
Published Articles: (Click on any article to view)
id 6061 Sorry wrong number --Feature 02-- June 5, 2002 id 10315 An evening at the theatre --Feature 02 -- July 5, 2002 id 6240 Billy Werber -- Feature 02-- Aug 2, 2002 id 6311 My Uncle the Padre -- Feature 02 -- Sep 6, 2002 id 6465 Lights out in Scotland -- WWII -- Nov 1, 2002 id 7341 Hurricane 'Carol' -- Storms -- Aug 1, 2003 id 8227 Bad day at the brewery -- Feature --November 7, 2003 id 8460 Yankee go home -- Features 12/05/03 id 9018 Snow plows -- Letters to 3/5/04 id 8871 A Cuban vignette -- Features 3/5/04 id 8825 Senior fun in the sun -- Features 4/2/04 id 9188 Memorial Day -- Random thoughts 5/7/04 id 9083 Ellen Goodman visits -- Features 5/7/04 id 9116 Ashes to Ashes -- Random Thoughts 6/4/04 id 8820 Hindenburg over Melrose -- Features 7/2/04 id 8826 Bad night at Quonset -- Features 8/5/04 id 9756 A Montana visit -- Features 9/3/04 id 8819 Oh Brother! -- Random thoughts-- 10/01/04 id 10167 They also serve -- Features 11/5/04 id 10150 My life in retail -- Features 12/3/04 id 10201 To eat or not to eat -- Features 12/3/04 id 10267 Dear John -- Features 1/10/05 id 10363 A diplomatic faux pas -- Features 2/4/05 id 10374 Our new holidays -- Features 2/4/05 id 10475 What's in a name? -- Features 3/4/05 id 10542Shingles Feature - 4/1/05 id 10560 Danger: thin ice -- Features 5/6/05 id 11111 The guns of Civitavecchia -- World War II 9/2/05 id 11195 The old Melrose Theater -- Features 10/07/05 id 11295 Carnation -- Features 11/2/05 id 11377 To build a bridge -- Feature 12/02/05 id 11547 Redemption -- Features 1/6/06 id 11606 Revere Beach revisited -- Features 3/3/06 id 11807 Now hear this -- Social Commentary 4/7/06 id 11902 Life on the bounding main -- Features 4/7/06 id 12112 A pig story -- Features 6/2/06 id 12209 The "Indianapolis" and a shipboard visit -- Remembering World War II 7/7/06 id 12338 A baseball story -- Features 8/4/06 id 12287 Down to the sea -- World War II 9/1/06 id 12680 Eastward ho! -- Features 11/03/06 id 12796 J'accuse -- Features 11/03/06 id 12904 Ode to Russ Priestley -- Poetry 12/1/06 id 12879 Melrose memories -- Poetry 12/1/06 id 13018 Impotence, a national pandemic -- Features 1/5/07 id 12926 Soggy in Seattle, he says -- Storms 1/5/07 id 13103 Global warming -- Feature 2/2/07 id 13008 Radio days -- Feature 2/2/07 id 12628 Twilight of a career -- Feature 3/2/07 id 13369 Iraqi blues -- Feature 5/4/07 id 13381 America the beautiful? -- Feature 6/1/07 id 13658 Hail to the Chief! -- Features 7/6/07 id 13767 Cherries anyone? -- Feature 8/3/07 id 13873 With their pant legs down -- Feature 9/7/07 id 14061 Oh my! "O.J." -- Features 10/5/07 id 14171 One more hurrah -- Features 11/2/07 id 14443 Sunday, December 7 -- Remembering WWII 12/7/07 id 14467 A Christmas Carol revisited -- Features 1/4/08 id 14543 Down memory lane --Features 2/1/08 id 14606 A new holiday --Random Thoughts 3/7/08 id 14705 East of Suez --Features 4/4/08 id 15035 Dark days in Melrose --Features 7/4/08 id 15066 The deadliest catch --Features 8/1/08 id 15174 Life in the fast lane --Features 9/3/08 id 15348 Another fine mess --Features 11/7/08 id 15517 Oh Sarah --Social Commentary 12/5/08 id 15492 Subprime mortgages --Social Commentary 12/5/08 id 15635 You roiling river --Features 2/6/09 id 15741 Murphy's by the sea --Features 3/6/09 id 15756 Fire on the Atlantic --Remembering WWII4/3/09 id 15712 The restaurant scene --Features 4/3/09 id 15852 The redundant Marine Corps -- Social Commentary 5/1/09 id 15926 Requiem for a sister --Features 6/5/09 id 15998 More stimuli --Social Commentary 7/3/09 id 16594 This angry Earth --Social Commentary 3/5/10 id 16894 Westward ho! --Features 6/4/10 id 16960 The tooth, forsooth --Features 7/2/10 id 17020 ATM --Features 8/6/10 id 17151 The Constitution --Social Commentary 9/3/10 id 17153 A delicate matter --Features 9/3/10 id 17258 Bahia blues -- Features 10/1/10 id 17381 Flight fright --Features 11/5/10 id 17789 Requiem for a daughter --Features 3/4/11 id 17889 A tale of two cities --Features 4/1/11 id 17988 A memory of Melrose --Features 5/6/11 id 18196 A farewell to an old classmate --Features 7/1/11 id 18371 Speaking of the weather --Features 9/2/11 id 18532 Black September --Features 10/7/11 id 18462 Thie campaign trail --Commentary 10/7/11 id 18552Prohibition revisited --Features 11/4/11 id 18651"Tis the season --Features 12/2/11 id 19310Hello Melrose Mirror --Features 7/6/12 id 19395Another train story --Features 8/3/12 id 19422Ell Pond --Features 8/3/12 id 19457Meteorology 101 -- Features 9/7/12 id 19604Bang the drum slowly 101 -- Features 10/5/12 id 19636The lost was found -- Letters to 10/5/12 id 19515Voting -- Feature 11/2/12 id 19721What's in a name? -- Features 12/7/12
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