So, a total of four medals under him. And after that, there's one thing I do need to talk about, and it's his car. Ken Morton and I were walking to his car. It was after practice, and said, you know, hey, why don't you This is a 1956. It was a Pontiac, cheap. And he's like, I want to sell it to you. I was like, okay, why do you want to sell? He's like, I want to buy a new car. I'm like, okay, you want to sell it? All right. Well, he's like, hey, I'll sell it for $35. When I said, "What? $35?" "No, no, no, no, no, no, not 35." He's like, "Yeah, for you, I'll sell it for 35. If not, I'll sell it to someone else." But that's you talk to your mom. So, I said, "Okay." I went to my mom and I said, "Hey, can I buy a car from Ken Barton?
You want to sell it for $35?" Oh, I said, "What? 35? No, it can't be." And I said, "Yes." And she said, "Oh, no. The insurance and this and that." I said, "I'll I'll get a job. I I'll cut grass. I'll trim some bushes and and I'll pull weeds and I was doing that committee of the teacher sector and I was earning money and I'll pay for insurance then she said okay. I got super excited and gave me a vehicle for $35. Can you imagine? Now after that junior then senior year was a wonderful year. I mean it is the golden year. I mean, Tim Morton coached us and pushed us to be at our best. We were national champions in football, track national champions. Those two years, I really give thanks to Ken Morton. After that, I went off to Galedet, graduated, played sports.
Uh, and I'd always come home and I'd visit the school to go see Ken Morton and catch up with some news and talk about college. Ken, hey, he'd say, "Hey, do you remember remember the three most important things? Number one, school. You got to study. Number two, sports. Number three, girls. Friends is for number three." That's what he would say. Even back when I was a young kid as a freshman, those are the three top things that he would repeat over and over. And I always will remember that. Then I graduated, got married to my childhood uh sweetheart and married Colleen and we moved to San Diego and I got a job there and I was teaching the day school, the middle school and one day I got a letter from Gail Lens and I was like okay cuz Gill had grown up looking up to me any sports that I played.
He come up to me super excited. He loved me, right? He was a good kid. And I saw this letter and I opened it up and he wanted me to go and watch him play football. It was his last year, senior year. I said, "Oh, okay." And he goes, "And to see your old coach, your old favorite coach." And I'm like, "You know what? All right." So, I flew over and I called and played saw play football against Riverside. It was one of the big games and he won that game. It was an exciting game and after that he was so excited to see me gave me a hug and after that was off working and then in 1977 Dr. Hanking offered me a job at Berkeley and my wife and I were kind of considering it because you know he absolutely loved San Diego.
My wife is like you know what I know that you want to coach. Oh, now you want to be a coach like Ken Morton. And I couldn't coach at mainstream schools or public schools. At a dev school, I could. Oh, I said, "Okay, you know what? Let's go." So, we moved. Ken was thrilled. Ken was hoping that I would take over his position like the half day and then teaching and then half day coaching. But Sacramento cut out that position and that was no longer there. So, I was full-time teaching and then after school I would coach my coach for years. All the philosophies. Everything I ever learned was from Ken. I instilled it into myself. Then my wife and I retired and decided to move to San Diego. Ken like, "Oh, you're moving." I said, "Yeah." Ken knew that we would love San Diego.
We always wanted to live there. So he even though he moved, we stayed in touch via FaceTime, video, phone, text. But then uh after 2015, his wife passed away. So we remained in touch, the two of us, my wife and I, my brother and I would keep in touch and he would absolutely enjoy our company. Then he decided he wanted to come to my house and then every time it was, it was to watch football because he loved the 49ers. and the warriors. So, we come over, we hang out, we enjoy just chatting with my family, my wife, my daughter Karina, and her husband Rory at the time lived with us, and it was just amazing. We get to chat all night after football and just always had interesting stories about his life. Fascinating stories. remained in touch and then in 2017 celebrated his 90th birthday where we gathered with friends at his home celebrated 90 years old.
I mean absolutely enjoyed it and then we continued celebrating his birthdays until was around COVID time did uh keep in touch a little less. We would communicate through video phone but just FaceTime here and there. And then in 2022, Ken asked if I had planned on going over to Galedet for uh the 100year football reunion. And I'm like, "Oh, 100 years." And I said, "Yeah, no." And I was aware of it, but uh I was going over to my 3030 football team that we had a reunion for. It was a fourth reunion. And Ken said, "Really? The fourth reunion?" I said, "Yeah." and he didn't realize we had a 30-30 reunion and and I explained him the history and he was fascinated by it and he asked uh were any of the players that were Ken and I said yeah four of us from Berkeley from the 33 team from Galette and it was Donald Yank Brown Ron go and me and Ken's like I've got to be there I want to go with you and I said And he's like, "Yeah, at the same time I want to do the 100 year celebration.
It's happening at the same time." So I said, "Okay." I asked the chairperson and I said, "Can I buy a pen as a guest?" And he said, "Yeah, why not? Absolutely." So we added another gentleman. It was Frank Turf, Roco Devito, Robert Dilia, President of Galidet, and we all got together and her went with his dad in Washington DC as a guest and absolutely enjoyed ourselves. We used a electric wheelchair and just was hanging around. It was so convenient and and also for we learned so much about the history. We had a large banquet, large gathering and really enjoyed that celebration. One afternoon we were headed over to the football field and as players we were talking about the six that passed the individuals. We all were talking about the different things and we're just goofing off and hanging around and the chairperson said, "Hey, um it was a forward coach, Bob Col, and came over and and then there was a Clyde and they were doing push-ups and they could do like three here, two here." And Ken said, "Hey, I I want to do it.
I I'm going to do it." And I said, "No, no, no, no. You're 96 years old. No, you're not doing push-ups." And he said, "No, yes, I am. I've been working out at home. I've been working out. I said, and you know what? He did push-ups. He did six push-ups. We were amazed by that, man. T was incredibly proud of himself. He was super impressive. And he went home and and after some time, it was his legs. He was struggling to walk and still go visit him and then moved to San Diego and kept in touch through video phone. When Ken let us know that he was ready to go uh to Switzerland, I said, "Oh, really?" I decided to go visit with my brother here. It was four or five hour chat. We just hung out for three days before he went off to New Zealand to Switzerland.
And I remember I said, "I'll never forget I saw you." He said, "When you were 13 and still have this bond to this day." And then he gave me a little pinky promise. And I said, "Yep." I said, "I love you." And knowing that Nikki and and Kurt allowed him allowed me to call him my father. And I said, "You know what? I think you promise you, Dad. I love you. Ken is and one of the greatest dev coaches for football, basketball, and track. He won championships in all three. But he wasn't just a coach. He was so many things for the California death community. If I went through the whole list, we'd be here all day. So, I'm not going to do that. He was an incredible human being. He earned my love, my respect, and my admiration. I love you dad and I will always miss him last weekend.
So the three of us at that event you just heard about were invited to give some presentations about that and then we had a banquet. We did have a time to remember the six folks we had lost but then to lighten the mood Bob Colbert and I using coach we had a little pushup compition. He did two, I did three. When we thought it was all over, there were 10 saying, "Hey, I I bet I can do 10." We were looking at this 96 year old and we thought we humor him and say, "Come on up and try your push-ups, little old man." Well, he did six push-ups more than either of us. And so, we all had a good laugh over that. It was like the best moment during the whole week. We always are great for the spirit for living life celebration. [Music] Maybe I can do some pushup or something.
I wanted to mention that, you know, we typically have more than one family. There's a family we come from. There's a work family and family with shared interests. My father had a lot of different families. Ken and Mel for sure, as you just saw, they were coming to me. I really like that idea. I love it. I'm very happy that the two of them felt that way as well. They were so close and helped our father out so much. I also wanted to mention that lost his wife and despite him being annoying to visit and share stories. [Music] I wanted to mention that our father had a favorite doctor when you left 98. Your friend group has a lot of doctors there. One of them is here today is your favorite doctor Montgomery. She works at I just wanted to acknowledge her. She's such a wonderful person and a doctor.
Where are you? [Music] But I'm glad she would be able to be here. Oh, there she is. There she is. She's such a wonderful person and we got to know her very well. And even going to the doctor at 98 is like the funnest thing. But dad was always keen on having mom and dad were very close to their neighbors in warm springs. One of them is here today as well. That was their next door neighbor. Stacy and Dennis Abraham. Stacy. There you are. Way in the back. Okay. They were such wonderful neighbors. She weren't allowed to my mother to decorate the home. Now, she lives in Portland, but she can't be with us today, and we're very grateful for that. I know that our parents would be very happy here today as well as well as Dr. Montgomery. Now, I got to make sure I'm introducing the right people.
[Music] I want to mention that Lens became the dean of [Music] student and I remember dad was really excited that Len was taking that job. He knew the Len was just the right person. He was thrilled. And so we had to have Len over for breakfast and sit and ask about Len's philosophy and they both talked together about what the position required and I was just so thrilled when finally agreed to come over breakfast or lunch. There are a lot of breakfast. So we had a shared philosophy and my father just loved Len. And then Mike dinner I think the best description of Mike is just dad's buddy. He's a really good buddy. The way those two communicated I was just I could tell tales a little bit about Mike. He would also leave video phone messages while he was driving. One hand on the wheel, one hand tiny at the end was always I love you directly with the camera.
And that would always show me my messages. [Music] I mean, yeah, I'm fascinated by what he said, but more [Music] so he could do that, how he could split his attention like that, but it made perfect sense. So now it's your turn to share some memories, but not while I get started on behalf of student life, I want to send our love to all of uh the Norton family. We know that we'd be happy for all of us to be here as part of this. We have all of our deans. So, I want to talk a little bit about the dean of students. When I became dean of students, I wanted to talk to former dean of students to make sure that we keep CSC's high standards going legacies program. So, I met with all each and every one of them. Ethan who couldn't be here today.
He is out of country. And then CM seem here back here. Hello. And then Ken Norton right there in the middle. And you got Mike Turner in here. I've met with all of them. They have all helped me make sure I had a good start, make sure I have things in place for our students. And after these meetings, I realized five de students and they were all still here. I We wanted to get them all together. So I reached out to every single one of them almost 50 years worth because Ken started in 75 Berkeley when it moved here till now until 2025. Okay. So we absolutely got together. We had lunch and we hung out. We shared lots of funny stories and you remember that Mike? Yeah. Uh C. Now after that that wasn't over. That afternoon we went over here and uh met with our student life staff starting with the elementary group and had a social interaction there then with middle school and then with high school throughout that entire afternoon and it was incredibly joyful.
We thought it was going to be a quick little thing but no it lasted all afternoon and Kim told me that it was most heartfelt moment having that interaction and seeing the last 50 years still being strong still here for our students and making sure that carries on. and we got together and took this great photo. Now, this happened in 2022 was my first year being a student. And then, yeah, and then in October, we took a picture. But I know that when they got home, they were tired, right? Remember that? Ken oftent times would make sure that the student wide students come first. And I said, "Yeah, of course." I already assured Ken over and over again that our staff are amazing. They always think of the students and I want Ken to worry and I see him quite often but he would still want to make sure that CSSE remains strong and I was amazed with his age and his energy that he would still think of CSE just like with curtain saving.
I mean just still loved CSC so so much. Now, before I start talking more about Ken as the dean of students, I did go and talk to staff that Ken had hired throughout his long time of working here. And so many common things that they stated or emphasized was just the leadership. Now, because there's a death community, what are we always fighting for? For our rights, our needs. and he'd emphasize to make sure that carried on his awareness there's knowledge of things making sure that that continued to be carried on that way CSC remains strong. Ken is everything. He has alumni, friend, administrator, a father, community member. I mean the list goes on. He continues to amaze all of us every single day and never stop. You guys agree, right? Yeah. Always what has been stated so far today is the same with whatever has been stated by everyone that has worked with him.
Dean of students. So I was looking into what he did as dean of students and he did so much. I did choose his top seven things that I felt really truly impacted and deaf schools nationwide. And you might wonder what those top seven items are. I'll start talking about that right now. He's the first deaf dean of students in 1975 before even uh DPN, the first death student. you know, when he moved here from Berkeley or when the school moved here from Berkeley to Fremont, the biggest difference was cottage. It was a whole new concept and it wasn't an easy change. We could have built it the same, but he wasn't afraid to try something new. He wanted to make sure that students felt at home. So, he had them designed to be homestyle like cottages where they had three living rooms or two living rooms.
And that's what he wanted. He wanted the best for our students. The result of that in 1980 there were a total of four death schools that copied this cottage design that we have. So the influence to other death schools that he made were not just to PSU but to every death school in the nation independent living skill skills he founded. You remember in cottage five and cottage nine those are the seniors where they learn to start to budget and buy their own meals and create menus. He started that and again it was for our students and that was the 1980s and then recently there are many schools there that I've learned that that emulated that because he had a strong foundation they had wonderful staff so they he had that instilled in CSB and it carried on independently instilled. Now when we were at Berkeley I don't know if you remember but they used to call it the quad where the students would gather.