A celebration of the life of Tom Norris will be held on November 26 at Mountain Light Unitarian Universalist Church, 2502 Tails Creek Road, Ellijay GA, where he served as Secretary on the Board of Directors in previous years. The memorial service will begin at 10:30 followed by a repast.
Thomas H. Norris, 79, of Ellijay, Georgia, died on 2017 November 09. He was born on 1938 August 29 to Armilda Elizabeth Norris and Lloyd Russell Norris, in North Kansas City, Missouri.
Tom attended North Kansas High School where he was active in sports and earned his Eagle Scout badge. Working in his father’s hardware store after school, he learned to build and assemble things that would lead to a lifetime of home building and remodeling. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1960 with a BS in Engineering, was a Delta Upsilon, and was selected for the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society among other honors.
He married Rebecca Louise West after college and entered the Army on a ROTC scholarship as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1961. He served as a helicopter pilot in Korea until he completed his service in 1964 at which time he went to work for AT&T Long Lines Division. He first served as a sales manager and recruiter in Kansas City, where his two sons were born. Following an assignment at headquarters in Bedminster, New Jersey, the family returned to Kansas City. He was later remarried, to Beverly Jean Buzzard, in 1970. Promoted to regional sales manager, they soon moved to Dallas, Texas.
After a series of transfers and promotions, Tom and Beverly were joined by Tom’s two sons when their mother passed away, and together they formed a new family.
Following a series of assignments involving something new called “data”, Tom began working in federal regulatory affairs which ultimately led him to Washington, DC, where he was named head of AT&T’s lobbying operation. He eventually was promoted to Vice President at a time when few were at that level. In 1995, after more than 30 years
with AT&T, he retired to Whitestone, Virginia on the northern-neck of Virginia.
Tom was an avid sailor and enjoyed taking his sons out on the boat “Auriana” that he had rebuilt and raced on occasion. Having won a racing trophy, it was proudly displayed near his desk along with the propeller. Later he gave up sailing and took up photography teaching classes and becoming a sought after wildlife and nature photographer. He sold his art and donated the profits to help establish the Rappahannock Art League.
Beverly Norris died in 2012, and Tom reached out to his high school sweetheart, Gretchen McCormack (nee Riddle), resuming a courtship that had been cut short by her family’s move in her senior year. They picked up where they left off, embarrassing their six grown children with public displays of affection not often seen in septuagenarians. On a visit to their hometown later that year, they married in the church they had attended as youths, witnessed by Tom’s overjoyed 98 year-old mother, who had always considered Gretchen as the one that got away.
Tom and Gretchen ultimately moved to the north Georgia mountains where they built a modern home with a full view of the mountains and wildlife. Every evening they watched the sunset from the deck. They made every evening count, but they deserved more.
Tom is survived by his wife, Gretchen Norris; his sister Joy and her husband Chet George of Gladstone MO.; his son Trent Norris and his husband Jack Calhoun of San Francisco; his son Troy Norris and his grandchildren, Jacqueline, Tyler, and Jason Norris all of Boston MA; as well as: Gretchen’s daughter Teresa McCormack of Las Vegas, and her sons Tjark Thomas McCormack, Guy McCormack and his wife Desiree, and Matthew McCormack, all of Atlanta.