Kenneth Norton Memorial Service (March 22, 2025)

001[Music] That's awesome. [Music] Add to be added. [Music] I haven't been to my bedroom 10. Damn it. [Music] Good. [Music] Let him [Music] Oh, there she is. Yeah, we're already Okay. [Music] Oh. Yeah, it's just me and What happened? [Music] Chris [Music] Yes. [Music] Yes. Everybody, what the Oh jeez. Very nice to meet you. Congratulations. [Music] Yes. [Music] What's going on? [Music] You saw you saw my [Music] They're showing [Laughter] Is that their favorite? [Music] So this was Maybe that's [Music] Why didn't [Music] So that's right there. There it is. High school graduation. Good to listen. Oh my god, grandpa love that. It's a historic battleship. I didn't like [Music] hatch. That's request. [Music] morning. What is this? What? Sorry. What's that? Yes. What the heck? the dog that they had. I'm pretty sure I

002wonder. [Music] Don't tell anyone. I'm 98 years old. I went to Dallas University and I met the most beautiful young woman who I married and we were together for 63 years. The first job I had was teaching algebra in Oklahoma. And you know what? That was just the right place for me. If it hadn't been for Oklahoma, I don't think I would have ended up where I am now. I strongly believe that Oklahoma taught me so many things. 1961, I went back to Berkeley where I taught at the school for the death. Eventually became the dean of students and I retired in 1990. My bond with CSV is still very strong. It will always be in my heart. Hello, I am Ken Norton's daughter Mickey and this is my sign name. I know my father

003is here and thanking you all for coming. Welcome. It feels strange and sad, but I'm here on stage now. I grew up seeing our fathers going up on stage before large audiences dramatically giving speeches or telling stories or in the classroom teaching, encouraging people or with a sports team and he's there coaching them on how to beat that opponent. Now, though he's not here, I know that he is up above watching us all and feeling deeply moved that so many people feeling love for him are here today. And I also know that he wants to advise me. Now remember, Nikki, spine was large, elbows up, not small. Okay? Not too fast. Take it easy so that everyone can understand. Okay, Dad. You're right. I'll try my best. that cherish the ASL signing and communicating with

004people, the death community, the CSD and oh, he just loved ASL. He loved to communicate. He loved learning new signs and love old signs as well. He could sit with his friends and family members and just chat and chat and chat all night long with such strong facial expressions and full of life. I really miss that. He loved his family as a father, as a grandfather. and a great grandfather with three great grandchildren and also cousins. I'd like to introduce our wonderful family. My husband Gary, our daughter Tessa, she's back there with her husband with her husband Justin and their two sons, Wesley who is 10 years old and Will, who who's just going to turn 60 [Music] soon. And our son Travis and his wife Sophia, their baby Jackson, there's going to be one

005soon, but is at home. Love you. and our cousin Angela who is here today with part of her family, her son [Music] Michael and Robert, and then his wife Joanne. Thank you for coming. And now I'd like to introduce my wonderful brother Kurt. I'd like to add a few things. Oh, sorry about that. Better here. I apologize. I'd like to add a few words to what my sister just stated. First off, I want to thank you all for coming and to share today with us. We really do appreciate it. And we want to thank the volunteers who helped drive the carts and prep the food and flowers and the like. There are many people who helped out a lot. as well as there was a committee of people who worked with the two of us

006for many weeks in planning and trying to make the day special for our fathers and for CSV really and really in some ways they love CSV because our father as my sister said love CSC, but I want to add one more thing that we really love. When we were young, sorry about that. I saw someone over there telling me to move [Music] over. When we were young, our father, he didn't tell us that, hey, I don't mind being death. It doesn't bother me. It's no problem. And I would see that and it didn't mean anything to me because I couldn't imagine our father and mother anything but being death. I mean I couldn't imagine them being hearing really. So over the years he refound that idea of being death doesn't bother me. Over the last

007one year, he knew his life was coming to an end. He knew it was time to go. So, the two of us were talking about a variety of things, about his life, about life in general, people he knew, the fate of CSV and what would happen. You know what's really crazy how much time that he devoted to the future of CSC? He really wanted to live forever so that he could see what would happen to CSD. And the children would argue about the idea of living forever. And I tell them that really it's better that life has limits. you die and that gives life meaning. And he said, "No, no, no." He said, "I was wrong." He said, "That living forever makes more sense because why did you want to leave this world, this great

008world?" He loved this world. But that's not the love that I want to talk about. really the love that he told us about mostly in the last year of his life that he changed from being death doesn't bother me to I love being [Music] death and that made a lot of sense because his life I mean you could see why he felt felt that way. He knew he was a very lucky person. It was lust based on hard work, being assertive, but also the love that was given to him. He was lucky that the fate of the world, God, or whatever you believe in gave him. I mean, being born into a deaf family with two wonderful parents that love him. They were creative and provided the best for him. He attended CSD kindergarten at

0095 years old. It was the right fit for him to be a residential student at 5 years old because he saw the school as an extension of his own family. There's no difference between a home life and CSC the residential student. I mean he absolutely loved it. And then he attended same thing small college and his love continued as he met our mother. probably his biggest luck of his life really. I mean very lucky he met her and then his first job as he mentioned in Oklahoma. We lived on the campus. You know the two of us and our brother Dane were residential students so to speak. I mean, we live there and if you asked us what is our favorite place to live up in growing up, you would say it was that school

010for the death campus. I mean, really fun. Incredible. I agree. And so his love just continues. And all of that gave him an opportunity to develop confidence, to develop security, to develop ideas, to take chances without huge risks because people wanted to help them. And so when it came time for his job, for his life to expand. He was ready and he saw that experience and wanted the same for every death child. And that's why he loved the school so much. why he was so supportive and continued to be a part of the school because he wanted his love, his opportunity to be given to all death students as death student athletes. I felt that right. I'm not sure. So that was the thing that was really most impressive to me about our father. It

011was his passion for the deaf communities, for the dev school because of his life that he was given a lot and he gave a lot back. But I think at the end now that today is about the school and that community. He is just one person who worked hard. There are many people here today that have worked hard to make this school wonderful to develop a death community and have a cooperation that's necessary to give young death people good opportunities in our world. And he's very proud of all the people that are here that have worked hard over the many years making it possible. So, it's about him, but it's really about the school and the community. So, thank you for being here, and I hope that you enjoy hearing a little bit about him.

012I like this. [Music] I'd like to introduce two people my family. First, my nephew, but my sister's son and our father's grandson. Now, I wanted to mention when Travis was about two or three, I saw him sitting on the floor and the TV was on. and his his grandparents were sitting on the sofa and Travis wasn't speaking full tenses or was really not talking much yet but he kneled and he started to try to interpret what the TV was saying and he was moving his little hands all around and it made no sense but his effort was beautiful I believe it try and sign in and speak. [Music] So, like Kurt said, Travis, I'm not Kota, but I'm G Kota, right? My grandpa love to chat. My best friend is here because my grandpa made

013deep friends with him. They have a difference of 50 years between them but still uh my grandpa was uh able to tell stories, many many stories. Um uh the time he tried to tried to steal the rock at the death Olympics. So if you heard that story before, uh fascinating stories from the world's fair. Um and my my uh favorite is how he fell in love with my grandma. who's always always ch always. Growing up, when my family would arrive at their house, my grandpa would always be on the TTY or DRS talking with his friends, family, but he would always stop to play with me, with me and my sister. always except when football was on TV. Me and my grandma love to watch the 49ers. His house. My grandma and grandpa had a

014sweet celebration. high five, kiss, and dance. Every time the 49ers uh got a touchdown, they would dance like they're 20 years old again. To many, my grandpa was a teacher, a coach, a mentor, a writer. But to me, he was a man that would put a little more sugar on your cereal, a little more butter on the toast. Encourage me to get the bigger stick with my grandma. and go to mass. [Music] I'd like to introduce another member of our family, Angela Norton. This is her name sign which is a good fit. Her grandmother is Nikki and my grandmother's sister. The two of them are sisters. Her last name is Norton, but it's not the name she was born with. It was uh Angela Harington, but a strange she married a man named Ken. Oh

015no, I stole our story. Ignore it. I'm not here. I'm gonna go sit over here. Thank you, Kurt. Never ignore her. Yes. Hello, everyone. Thank you to my interpreters. My name is Angela Norton and I'm Ken's cousin. And it's my honor to be asked by Nikki and Kurt to be here today. And it's my privilege to be at this distinguished school. It's my pleasure to share my personal thoughts with you today about him. As I said, I'm Kenneth's cousin, but more accurately, my late mom and Kenneth were first cousins. My grandmother, my mom's mom, and Kenneth's mom, herself, the CSD alumni, were sisters and very close sisters all their long lives. The fact that one was hearing and the other was hearing impaired never got in the way of their special communication. My grandmother was

016widowed at an early age and always lived with my parents and me. So whenever Aunt Anie came to visit us, I was treated to see firsthand their heartfelt sisterly bond and their lively animated conversations, fingers nimly flying through the air. And a huge part of those visits was the sharing of lots of pictures of Kenneth, Audrey, and their kids. I could see the love and the fun activities in the Norton household and I could see the pride in Annie's face in recounting all their accomplishments. I know my grandmother shared her sister's pride and I was so proud also to be related to them. Perhaps one of the biggest accomplishments accomplishments of Kenneth and his older brother Earl was that they were the first in our entire family to graduate from college university of course. In

017fact, not only were they the first, but they were the only college graduates in their generation of our family. The only two among 10 first cousins. We all marveled at Kenneth's many triumphs at school, at sports, and in his career. He was very much admired and respected by us all. Other folks can share today with you Tenant's many accomplishments in academia and his with his professional achievements. And though I was never his student in class, I want to share with you what I learned from him. Kenneth had a love, one could say a passion for learning and he was tremendously generous in sharing his knowledge. His love of learning was infectious and I guess I got bitten by that same bug. Like Kenneth, I enjoyed researching and genealogy has become my hobby. Kenneth and I

018enjoyed comparing notes about our maternal family's shared roots in 19th century Bavaria and also in early pre 1906 first earth San Francisco now I must claim here equal time when it comes to researching I didn't limit my study to only my side of the family I spent a lot of time researching my husband's family too here it's a coincidence let you out the My husband's name is indeed Ken Norton. And in doing research, I found out the connection goes much deeper than merely sharing the same name. It turns out that both Kenneth and my husband can trace their fraternal roots to the same original immigrants from England to Martha's Vineyard and the Massachusetts colony. The Nortons were among the first settlers there in 1640. and both of their Norton lines eventually relocated to Maine after

019the Revolutionary War. Now, imagine the state of Maine in the early 1800s. Raw, wild, largely undeveloped, subject to fierce winter weather. No wonder we get the term Yankee ingenuity from those undaunted pioneers. Resourcefulness, adaptability, inventiveness. These are all qualities which describe Kenneth. Whatever the newest technology, from TTY to iPads to the most sophisticated computer setup I've ever seen, he mastered it all. Not only did he have the intelligence and capability to tackle any challenge, he personified the bravery of his New England ancestors. The other great lesson I witnessed from Ken was his ability to express deep emotion. I marveled at his ability to communicate with clarity and precision. I felt the joy he exuded when he lifted a glass to do to toast Nikki and Gary at their wedding. And I felt the deep the

020depth of grief when he eulogized his son Dne. Such true feelings. so profoundly expressed. The oral spoken word was never needed between us. We knew there was love. And if you were lucky enough to be the recipient of one of his all-enveloping bear hugs, I'm sure you felt that love, too. The author Tom Brokoff wrote of the greatest generation. Kenneth was the last of his very great generation in our family, our patriarch. Thank you, Kenneth, for sharing your warmth, your wit, and your wisdom with us. We, your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren, your whole family. We will be forever grateful for teaching us how to live a beautiful and fulfilled life. Thank you. Ken Norton spent over many years at Cal School for the Deaf as a young boy. Now during those days there

021was no Bay Bridge. He took the ferry every week back and forth from San Francisco to Berkeley so that he could attend school because legislators refused to build a tower to house our bell. He helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to build the bell towers that you can see to this day. And the name of people that contributed to that bell tower. It's a little a little funny. That's how me use the word cool often because that's how I say that's cool. This is cool. About eight months ago, he said, "You know, Kurt, I want to start using cool. Tell me how." I thought, "Well, okay." So, we practiced the same thing before and I saw him using it a few times. It was a little awkward, but it seemed to fit in that

022way in some strange way. The reason I bring up the word cool is because when my brother and sister and I were little and we would play at the school back when it was in Berkeley back in the 60s, There was what we now call the California cool era. The next two speakers are part of the original California cool. They were great athletes that my brother and I would watch play. They were like movie stars to us. If you look in the program there on the back, you'll see a picture of my father with three of his athletes. One of them is Ken, who's coming up next. The other is Jim Davis, who's also here today. He's over there on the right. The other one's online. Those three were really cool guys. In addition, Mel's

023older brother was also the OG cool guys. So, I'm glad to introduce the two cool guys. Hello and good afternoon everyone. This is that's Mel and I'm Ken and really happy to be here to celebrate Kim Morton's life. We have a really good relationship. Long time 63 years. We have a special bond. It feels inspiring. really have him have my coach. Now, I wanted to recognize my daughter Sabana and her husband and their baby Finley and daughter Karina, husband Rory, with baby Lennox. They're all here up here in the back to celebrate with us. And my wife stayed home. She's watching us live stream right now. So, they're all celebrating with us. We're all here in spirit. When I was a senior, I was on the football team. At that time, Ken was a new

024coach. I didn't know who this guy was. I knew his brother Earl. I've met him on a few occasions. But then when we got to school, started training, I decided that football wasn't for me. I played for three years and we won two games, lost 22. That seems like a good time to be out of it. and he kept going as who's the quarterback here. They all said his email was a linebacker. So they all end up coming to the gym where I was and taking me out back to football practice even though I quit. Ken Norton said, "Okay, I I said to I know your brother Earl, but I played for three years and I'm tired of football. I will lose him. And if you really want me, I'll come back on the team.

025He shared his rules. Who comes first? You have to get good grades to stay on the team. You have to have a good attitude. Show team spirit have the enthusiasm to always do what you need to do. And so we came back on the team. We had a couple weeks of training and we played at the first game. and we lost again. 12 to 13. Ken said, "No, don't worry about it. Keep practicing." Then we played Half Moon Bay, which is a big school that had always beat us. This time we beat them 26 to 14. The third game was St. St. Vincent. And we ended up that year with a record of five and three, which was better than I'd ever had in my previous years. And that was all because Ken was such

026a great coach and his ability to to coach us very clearly in ASL. and I had the good fortune to stay in touch with him afterwards. And even though I went away to college, I came back raise my family and also stay in touch with Ken. And then I volunteered to work at the museum like 15 years or so. and Kim would always be there helping us add to the museum, add research, add add documents to our museum. He also worked hard to help us renovate the museum. But then he he started coming less and less physical and he wasn't up to it. as I go over to his house and help him with the yard, cleaning, whatever little things he needs me to do, go out shopping for him, help pick up his medicine,

027that kind of thing. Eventually, he wanted to wanted to sell his house. He decided he wanted to move into an apartment. It was over near Kaiser. He gave me a key so I could just show him anytime during the day or night when he might need something a call and I'd be over there in a flash. If I go on vacation, he'd still be in touch. We'd text each other. My wife would go over, have lunch with him. We go out and do stuff out around town. It got to a point where he felt like he was ready to go. But I, you know, he was in such pain. There's not much I can say against what he had in mind. So I went over and I was there for three hours. We all we

028just talked about the good old days about the about the football team, about the school, about the museum and I gave him a hug. Goodbye. I wish you luck and hello. In 1961, when Ken Norton moved to California from Oklahoma, the school was super excited. I mean he was a graduate from Berkeley in 1945 and then he's come back to the old school as a teacher and half a day in the morning he would teach class and then half the day in the afternoon he'd be coaching. He had a special position position which was really nice. He's super lucky. And then one day I was curious to go watch Ken Norton in action in a football game and watch him coach. And also my brother was a quarterback so I wanted to go watch. I'm

029like wow that's Kim Norton. He was good and the way he communicated the drills and the practices was beautiful, fascinating. I was like, "Wow, I want to play for him." And then one day I was walking down the hallway and I bumped into Ken. This was his sign name back in the day. And I was like, "Oh, you're Ken Norton. You're Martin." He's like, "Yeah, yeah." I was like, "Hey, I have the same name. I'm Ken." And he's like, "Really?" I said, "I know. We have the same name." And he's like, "Who are you?" I was like, "My brother's a photograph." He's like, "Oh, he's your brother." I'm like, "Yeah." He's like, "How old are you?" I said, "13." And he's like, "Okay, well, in two years, you're going to play for me." And I

030said, "Oh, yeah. I will. I love sports." Well, then two years later, I entered high school and played football, basketball, and track. And Kent was just outstanding. I mean, he has such a good philosophy. He gave good advice, good you uh word usage, and and just the way he communicated with us. I I played so well. Then in springtime, 1964, I was a rookie that year. I was pretty good at track. At that 800 yards, I won every single match. First place, Ken Norton saw me. He knew that I was really good at track. He knew I was strong and determined and I had the will to win. So Ken said, "Hey, why don't you try out down in Riverside for the Death Olympics?" And I was like, "Oh." And I was 16 at the

031time and I was like, "Should I?" My brother's like, "Yeah, let's go. I'll drive." So, we drove down to Riverside. And there was about 12 liners. I looked around and they were all college level men, like college graduates. And I looked around. I'm like, I was the only 16-year-old, the only kid. I was completely nervous. And uh we're getting ready to run the two laps and I start to go off and and I mean, we were huddled. like we were all together. But then all of a sudden we started to spread up and there was this runner that was in front of me that was in first place and I almost beat him but I played second. But then I ended up being on the USA team, the top three. You have to be on

032the USA team and I made the team. And I was super excited and Ken said, "I knew you could do it." I was confident that you could do it. Ken was just was wonderful. He inspired me that following summer in 1965 for the Olympics at Washington DC. Um, and it was over at the University of Maryland. Went over there for practice for about two weeks and it was with Jen Davis and Don Lions. We were all the runners there and we're practicing and then we had to do another track meet. Uh, there was another some other guys that didn't go to the tryyouts yet for the one that held in Riverside. So, there was about seven or eight of us. And then that day I just kind of just fell off like I I I

033played sport. I mean, I I couldn't run in the death Olympics. I was like, "Huh, what what do I what?" Ken said, "You know what? No, hold on." He looked into some information and he found a long jump that was available. Hadn't had any competition there. And I said, "Why don't you try that out?" I said, "Okay." And I was a kid at jumping at the time. So, I started practicing. I played second. And then I ended up on the USA team anyway. I was super lucky um that I was able to win a medal or to run to win a medal. and we competed and I placed fifth. Ken Horton looked at me and he said, you know, he was like, "Okay, come on. Keep it up." And I said, "Okay." So, the last

034jump, the very last jump, I jumped, landed, placed third, got a medal, won by half an inch and I won a medal. I a bronze. I was thrilled. Ken Norton, he was the best coach I ever had. And again, in the 69 Olympics, I got another third place medal with Kim Norton. 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,

035you 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

036money 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

037for 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

038was 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

039coach 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,

040video, 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

041home 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

042of 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

043was 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

044said, "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

045you." 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

046will 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

047during 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

048left 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

049to 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.

050So 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

051want 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

052sure 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

053going 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

054quite 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

055has 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

056from 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

057seniors 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. What was the Do you guys remember anyone of you from Berkeley? It was for socializing. Correct. Theater, you know, maybe some chat. Okay. Graduation. During that time, they didn't have activity centers for elementary, middle school, or high school. So, Ken knew that that

058was something that needed to be started. An activity center where kids can hang out, have leadership meetings with parties. He knew what was best for students. So when we moved here, he made sure that that elementary activity student center and the high school activity center. Now remember, middle school and high school activity center were merged together back in the 80s. Then we realized a big mistake because of the times and scheduling and the so made it happen where they brought over the mobile that we had from Berkeley that was for the media center. Do you all remember the the mobile? Yeah. Now when that mobile moved they moved mobile here they felt better that they were middle school was able to have their own place to have that social interaction and then the last 10

059years a middle school had been closed the activity center because it was too old and then finally got it renovated finally got a brand new one that opened in the fallen came during the opening and felt so much better that it's still standing and that when he came that it was his last CSV visit. So when the school moved here in 1980 to his last visit, I mean I just I just think that that was a great closure for him just knowing that CSC is still in good shape and standing strong. Now he always loved leadership annually he'd go to the Asamar asar retreat in Pacific Grove. Now he felt that leadership was incredibly important. So he would teach those strengths in the fall to set a good tone throughout the school year. Now I

060want to let you all know to this day CSC still does that even though we don't go to the Syllamar we still uh run those events here with our on our campus with our staff. So still explaining that we are still carrying that on. All right we got two more student life council. There were two reps from each cottage from elementary, middle school, and high school. They would all meet monthly to make sure they're able to express what needs to be improved and what they like about the cottage role and whatnot. So, it's all about him was students who came first. To this day, we still carry this on. We are carrying on to the work. And what's amazing, you know, night attendance overnight and stay up all night. Now, what did they have to

061do back in the day? You remember they had to be hearing. You're right. They had they could not be deaf because they wanted a hearing person to hear if the doors were opening and closing or if the windows were opening and closing and they were trying to sneak out and they they had to be hearing and Ken said no. He fought and fought and fought. Finally was able to hire the first death night attendant and that was because of Ken because he knew that Jeff could do a better job. And who that is is Derek Justice. Weren't you very young? Weren't you like 18 or 19 when you accepted as a night attendant? 18 years old. Now there is a whole lot more but that's the seven total items that he really his work that

062I wanted to talk to you apex through this day. Like Kurt Nikki explain wanted the best. We wanted to make sure that you were successful. And I found this book. It's a very old book that was typed up in 1980. In 1980, he typed up what student life should look like, what it should look like, morning, no, and night, leadership organizations, meetings, brushing your teeth. I mean, everything. He put this together. And then what he did with this, he sent it out to other dev schools. He wanted to uplift these other dev schools. He didn't want to think just for CSV. And I was amazed reading through this. It is incredibly fascinating some of the words he used. But this work to this day is still carried on. It's amazing, right? Well, learning a lot

063more about Ken. We'll never stop learning. And overall that's why two years ago, two years ago, CSC hosted a very big celebration in honor of him, the metal shaped sculpture of his face. So the first one is his senior picture and then the last day of his work. So he deserves that spot and it is now posted at our high school activity center. He was surprised with this celebration. most heartfelt moment he said with CFC even to the stage before he passed. He said this was his best moment and my wife Stephanie the last few years we saw that Ken was starting to age and people were talking about his legs and but always enjoyed his company. He was never a dull moment. learned so much with wisdom. And every time we we would meet,

064he would fire me up. He would help me motivate me to come to work and do my best. CS has gone through some great times and some bad times, but Ken has always helped me remain strong. Thank you. All right. Lastly, I know I've gone on and on, but like you all say, his wisdom, his knowledge, his experience. I always think of that book. It's called Tuesdays with my great book. Now, when I read the book, it makes me think of K. So, I suggest you all to read this. As I stated, it's got great lessons, many things that can be shared that's inspiring. And there's things that I think about that when I remember this book, it helps me move forward. So, thank you, Ken, for everything you've done to CSV, with me, with

065our families, and with everyone. Lastly, as dean of students, I feel that it is an honor and a privilege to lead student life because of him and to his family. Love you all. Thank you. This this guy this guy is a really special person. If it weren't for him, I don't know where we'd be. And smiling right now up there and relieved that you've taken the reigns and that you're acting on what he has planned for the school. He didn't just read this, you lived it. Right. I read every word. That's right. And that's why we love you. Thank you, man. So, as I was trying to figure out what I say, I uh I had some I had some prepared remarks, but I don't want to just receive what everybody else has said. So,

066thanks to my phone, I can make some last minute changes. If I had this on paper, I couldn't do that, right? Thank goodness for technology. editing. Got to love it. First of all, we are here to honor a remarkable man and a very dear friend. He lived to 98 years old and he did those six push-ups when he was 96. How many of you can do that now? I doubt there are many of you. maybe 0.001% of men of his age could do what he did and I admire him for it. Ted's legacy is without parallel. He had such a deep bond with his school. His father graduated from the school for the death. Then did Kim and continued to work at the school and not only that after retirement he continued to work tirelessly

067for the school. His heart was clearly here. He's also an author. He wrote a book about the school. It wasn't just a thin little book either. It was maybe three or so months ago. I read the book called The Boys of Riverside and it was written by a New York Times reporter dealing focusing on the football program at CHP Riverside. I sent that to the can and he wanted to find the reporter's name and contact information. So Kirk was on the on the job. So, we sent our CSV history to that same reporter and just Ken's eagerness to get CSV Fremont on the map side just shows how much his heart is with the school. We were thrilled to finally have a dev of students, some of them serve as a role model. I went

068to the school for the death in Mississippi, but it turned out not to be a good fit for my family. The culture just wasn't right for us. Just around that time when Ken was about to retire, meaning his position was going to be open, he reached out to me and reached out to me and asked me if I'd like to come back and do that position. I'd only been in Mississippi for a year, but I knew it was time to repack. Ken had immense shoes to fill. I I my two feet couldn't fill one of his shoes, but he knew how to make that transition smooth. He had trained his staff well and it was a privilege for me to have the staff that he had trained and for that among many other things I'm

069forever grateful to him. On a personal note, I first moved here 50 years ago as a teacher. At that time, Kent was the adjustment teacher. And right away, I knew he was gonna be my best friend. We hit it off immediately. He was my role model. He just knew how to click with students. If there was any trouble, he'd come in and calm the waters instantly. Jesus had a way with students and his influence was felt over hundreds among hundreds of students over the years. We managed to have a nice close relationship, he and I. His wife, the lovely Audrey, unfortunately, passed away a 100 years ago, and I decided I needed to visit him more often. We went out for a meal every month, had a nice long chat, and I just enjoyed that

070time with him immensely. Ken loved his family so much. These kids, Nikki, Kurt, and Dane. They also love golf. Dane wanted to be a pro golfer. But unfortunately, Kenser took his life and he left us too soon. Ken always talked about his family and included game all the time. And also he was a fan of the world and he and I have bonded over that. As we've gotten the impression today, there's just too many stories about Ken that we couldn't possibly share at one go. I'll never forget his kindness and his wisdom. his commitment to the school and not just to the school but to education and to the community. This was his 96th birthday. Barbara and I had the privilege to have it be is home to celebrate actually went out together to a

071restaurant to yell [Music] something rest in peace. We miss you. We love you. As I look back over my life working with death people, Ken was and is special, unique. He was a proud son of the death family, a graduate of CSD, a husband, a father, and for me, he was my friend. It was honor to know him. an honor to worship him and an honor to be his friend. God bless. I need to ask a favor. I mentioned that our father had many conversations with me and my sister and myself over the last year of his life. One thing he asked us, it says, "People know me as an old man. That's all they seem to know of me. I'm old." I was young once and I said, "Yeah, but what can you do

072about it?" and he said, "Could you if you have a memorial event, could you print a picture of me when I was young so people will know?" So my favor is to ask of you if you have a program, could you look on the back and you'll see a picture of him young. And so now that you know he was young once and now he'll look down at us and be happy and relieved to know that people know. When my father knew that he would go, he was coming up with many plans. He still had many ideas. And I asked him, "Well, who's going to do that thing?" And maybe Joey and Julie. Maybe they can. And I said, "Okay." The next plan, okay, well, who can do that? Maybe it would be Joey and

073Julie. Again and again, he thought, "Oh, the two of them can. They're very smart people. They can do anything." I told him, you know, it's their their time to live. It's their time to live. Um, but he's a person and he wanted people to listen to his ideas because they were good. I believe they were good, but those two have their own ideas. So, I want to thank Joey uh for creating the PowerPoint presentation and editing the videos. Thank you. It was a lot of work, but thank you for that. And I'd like to introduce these two wonderful people. First of all, it's such an honor to be here. I'm grateful to Ken's family for having us here and let me share a few remarks. I've visited Ken over the past number of years to

074keep him company and you've already heard a lot of the stories and I have a lot more I could add, but I won't go on at any great length. But always when we got to his home, he'd ask how he's doing. He would say, "You know what? I'm still here." That was always his response. So, he wasn't just that he was still here and dealing with all the health problems. He was still persistent. When I first met Ken, it was back in 1980 when the school opened right here. I joined here when I was 12 in seventh grade and entered junior high school before it was changed to middle school. And I remember seeing Ken standing on stage with several administrators and they were cutting doing a ribbon cutting over uh by the football field.

075And I saw that you was the Dina students, but I don't exactly remember when or how or where we were officially introduced and met, but I had seen him come and present to the cottages. He would socialize with the students in the activity centers until my freshman year of high school. I remember Ken had founded a student leadership retreat in at Syllammore and it was his first year. He was selecting students to attend for the weekend. It was mostly for sophomores, seniors, and seniors. And it just so happened that first year he decided to choose three freshmen. And I was one of them. And I remember he came to me in the high school activity center and I remember this. He came to me and he said, "We talked about the retreat and he wanted

076to have me come and go for the weekend on Friday, Saturday, Sunday event and then come back." And I I saw him and I said, "Okay, at that time I was a regular res residential student. So I was thinking I would stay for the whole week, spend the weekend, go to the retreat, come back to two weeks straight without seeing my family." I really cared about my family and I said no. I said no, I'm not going. He tried to get me to go and I said, "No, I don't want to go." And he said, "Okay, I understand. I understand you want to be with your family because he himself is a family guy." And I said, he said he's going to see me next year. I said, "Okay." So those students went off for

077the weekend and came back and talked so much about their personal growth and the leadership and social interactions and how much fun they had. And I was like, "Oh." So that the following year as a sophomore, he came to me and I said yes. And I went my sophomore, junior, and senior years and they were incredibly worth it. So I am grateful to Ken for having me go. And then as time went on, I graduated, went off to college, and then I came back here in 1993 at 25 years old as a new teacher, and I saw Ken. He had already retired just a few years prior. And where did I see him? It was in the museum in the library volunteering his time with his wife. And the two of them were there. And

078that's when I actually met Audrey. And I said, "Oh, hi." And I would see them here and there because I they would bring the students to the library and chat. Then time went on. [Music] Audrey passed over nine years ago and that's when Joey and I really started to connect with Ken again. We go to his home and he cooked dinner for us with help of Kurt. And I had met Kurt. and they had good conversation and then they'd come over to our home and we'd cook for him and so we'd take turns doing that. So the last few years Joan and I would be spending more of our time going to see him and then we met Nikki. I really enjoyed those times with him, those long conversations, spending time with him, watching football

079games together, and now he's gone. I was trying to think of how I would define him. Ken K is for kindhearted. He was kind. Every time you met him in person, he's so interested. He wanted to know about who you were and where you were from and what your journey was like and what your vision for the future is and then would wouldn't offer information about himself unless you asked. But it's just really really fun. E exceptional. I mean, as you all already know based off the comments of talking about sports and coaches and students and he was a family man and which is my favorite word, my personal favorite word. He was normal. He made mistakes. Sure, like all of us do. He had a dream of all of this. and his love for

080his family, his children, his grandchildren, great grandchildren, in-laws, cousins, including his parents. He would always talk about all of you. He's just a really normal person. And the last thing, Ken loves to laugh, loves to tell jokes and be funny, especially the last few years. Definitely much more, but learned some really funny, interesting things from him. So tonight, what I'm going to do is I'll go home. I planned on having a conversation with him and laugh with him because he made me promise that I would laugh when he passes. And it's not because he's gone, but because he's lived. So I invite you all to join me and laugh with him tonight. Finally, it's my turn to add something to the comments that people have been sharing today. I had seen Ken before, but I

081really connected with him in 2005 for the Dev Seniors conference. He needed help with technical the technologies for the conference and I helped him getting some powerpoints together and doing that and they did a program called the big threes that was about three artists and and Redmond. These are all graduates of the school and a historical piece about these three men. But then we continued our bond over history. He was quite a historian. He wanted to write a book because he wanted to be memorialized the knowledge he had about our history. It's important that we have the accurate history of our school and our community recorded. This drama had been the first CSD student that I really felt a connection with. The history we had about this wasn't really enough because we knew that he

082went on to be very well [Music] known but his connection to CSD wasn't really well known. as as well known as he was. So, a couple of years ago, we decided to make a film about the extra. The fifth grade class and I worked together. That was what last spring we got it together and we were able to show Ken and he said, "That's great, but you know, I need to add a few things here and there." He cooked her this and we added what he wanted to put into the film. It ended up being 35 minutes long. We saw him in the final version. We showed him the final version. We're going to debut in May 2025. That's our 175 year 65 year anniversary at this campus. So maybe you all can join us

083for that. This is just a clip and so it would be difficult to interpret the bits involved. So, I hope that little teaser entices you to come to our premier. More information will be going out next week. I feel so fortunate to have known Ken and to share our mutual passion of history. And I'm and I'm also glad to let you know that Ken has now the record has a new a new record previous record holder has been the Australian [Music] Thank you, K. We love you. A funny story about the Estrella. He was part of the Sierra. I was the only death person in the whole group there, but he was very wellliked. When they went out on a hike though, they said, "He better take the rear position in the line as they

084hike because they knew that it was an area with rattlesnakes and they worried that he couldn't hear the rattle and he wanted they wanted him to stay behind and everybody else could look out for the snakes again for his safety." He said, "Okay, that's all well and good." But he ended up being the one to point out the rattlesnakes to all the hearing people in front of him. Hearing people didn't see them despite being able to hear. It was the death had to point out the rattlesnakes. So they end up putting him in the front of the line so the teachers do look out for their [Music] safety. It goes to that death people can do anything but hear. Our eyes more than compensate for what we don't hear. And he was well known for

085his sharp eagle eyes. I also used to ride the ferry to get to school in San Francisco. And I witnessed the building of the Golden Gate Bridge rising up out of the fog. I saw it right there from the very beginning. Ken was just a great person and he lived an amazing life. I so appreciated the time he devoted to sharing his experiences and words of wisdom and I'm going to miss him. Oh, I love you. [Music] One position that our father often considered was the position of superintendent here at the school. It's a very important position for the school and for that community as well. When Clark broke that position, my father was immediately impressed with him and he found ways to connect with him and the two of them became really good friends.

086They're similar in many ways. And dad really cherished the the time and the conversations he had with Clark about the school, about the philosophy that that Clark used to approach running the school. I'm very proud to introduce Clark. Okay. Now, why are you all here? Because Ken inspired you all, right? And how you inspired me. And I know standing here. I'll be speaking for many of the staff and teachers that work here. But I came in at 1998 as a math teacher. And he was a math teacher as well. And how I knew was he came up to me. He said, "There's a new math teacher." We talked to Ron Stern that was brought in the classroom and I learned that he would tend to visit the school. He retired in 90 even though I

087started working in 98. He'd still come to the school. He'd make time to meet with the new teachers to give words of wisdom of advice as you all had mentioned. He'd come in and take pictures and wonder why he was doing that and learned that he was writing a book for the history of CSV. Now, one thing unique with our school here is the history. The history behind this school, Ken is one of the reasons as well. Thank you to the family for letting me speak today. You know those pictures of the superintendent? He worked for two of them, but he knows six of them. He knew six. I knew maybe three of them or no four now, but even prior to he had a long time here. He knows a lot about the history

088of the school here. And like I said, he was my special advisor. When I was superintendent, he'd come and have meetings with me or talk on the phone or we'd have lunch meetings and talk about the different issues about the buildings and how the state runs the school and the challenges of the school and and all the workarounds that we have to go through. But after having those discussions, they really really bonded. He cherished CSD. Even though at over 90, CSD was number one. That remain true. His message never changed. His commitment to this school's future will always be there. And I'm going to mention two important parts of his contributions here during my leadership time. He always was very optimistic. Even knowing that there were challenges, he never talked negatively. Sometimes he would remind

089me to be positive. And without his advice, sometimes leadership is a challenge. It's not an easy job. But every time after talking to him, I feel positive. And the same goes for all of you and many of the staff that have worked here without an influence. The school would be around for a long time. He wanted this school to continue forever. He was a leader. He would be uh behind the scenes also be visible. Now being visible is the museum. All right. Now at that time we had a plan to expand the museum by Dr. Bernick which is the prior superintendent to me. And then when I arrived in the fall of 2017, it was Ken and Mel who quickly came up to me and said, "All right, let's we got to update the museum."

090And I said, "Okay, hold on." I was brand new. It was my first year still learning the road. And then informing the state what I plan on doing in that area, we probably would have to get permission. So I thought, you know what? Let me try and work with the two of them. And they wanted to expand it, move it. And I was really thankful to Don Cer Trust who helped support that and funded that. Ken Norton Norton knew him as well. They also were behind that project. We moved it to another room. There was actually a tab filing system that we added to a third room. Second room, we were able to expand it and there was an exhibit. Metal will open it from 4 to 5 this afternoon if you'd like to go

091see a little bit of Kim's touch. Prior to that, we had it. We were putting in everything. And then co hit. Kim couldn't come as much. So the museum committee would come in to work. We would talk on FaceTime and I'd show him and go home and then, you know, ask what he thought, come up with some ideas, if he had any ideas to make any changes. I wish he could have came, but then finally was able to come through the open house and he was inspired. It was a good podium for him. Yes. So behind the scenes, we had a community advisory council that meets monthly regarding different issues and one of them was for housing for staff. Ken wanted a housing built for staff that this cost of living was rising. He toend

092meetings and he ended up building or bringing a real estate uh developer that would present and then wrote a letter to Sacramento many times sent letters. He probably didn't get many responses, but he still sent those letters. He was dedicated to see that housing be he built, even fundraised, like stated that he fundraised for the uh clock tower. Even to this day, like he was still trying to fund raise some money for housing and it went to Parod in hopes that that money would help build the houses for my wife and I was discussing this and realized that if Ken could live forever and wasn't probably he'd be standing here today talking about history and school. I was always impressed with his collection of the past. He was always very clear. He wasn't never said,

093"Oh, I think or I don't remember." He would know the years, where, how, the why, the how. Incredibly impressive. I hope I can be like that when I get older. But he would bring really good information that would help me run the school and to continue to do inspiring work through his inspir in inspiration. We would meet up for lunch. And last year I was working and stopped by to see him at his apartment which is close by and brought him lunch and I stayed for 30 minutes and he's like no you got to stay for an hour. I'm like nobody work but sometimes uh I could go by in the evening my wife right during his picture we took her his house before he moved to the apartment we got to chat with him

094and we're always inspired by his words of wisdom. I mean, I always thank him for everything that he has done for this school to support me, but really to support all of you, Ruby, so to speak. And that's how I see it. Now, you see the picture with the two metal sculptures. Uh, Cindy Martin, is Cindy here? No. Okay. Cindy was the one that came says, "You must recognize Ken. You've got to recognize him." That's okay. I was looking through policies and procedures that we had to have a screening committee had to have nominations whatnot and it was getting close to the time where it needed to be planned out. So I went to a conference and Trenton Marsh alumni I think graduated in about 88 or 91 class of 91 he actually drew that

095picture through the metal sculpture and I said okay I'm bidding. So I bid it. Another school bid it. They bid. There were other biders going on. I said, "Trenton, he's alumni. He's got to go to CSD." So he's like, "Okay, fine." So we ended up winning that auction for the school. I reached out to Trenton and we hosted this event and just saw the beautiful sculpture and and Kim was shocked. That gift was from CSC to him for all of his work in the high school activity center and in the student life area. Also in the high school department, I want to say about three or four years ago, we started a Ken Morton Leadership Award. The first winner was Savon IKEA who's now a senior who will be graduating. Ken was inspired by that.

096He couldn't come, but we filmed it and then showed it to him and explained it to Ken and then introduced it to him through video. And we'll have another award given out this spring and we'll continue that. I think you all have shared a lot of stories, so I'll go ahead and wrap it up. But I want to thank Ken for everything that he has done for the school and for all of you. Love you. Thank you. I quickly want to thank Amy Nati, the current superintendent of CSD, for permitting us to have this program here on a CSD campus. When she was selected as superintendent, Ken was just thrilled. Thrilled that he could live long enough to see a woman become the superintendent here. He knew that as a [Music] historian, the first leader

097of CS back in the 1860s was a woman, but that there was a huge gap until now. But he was thrilled to see a death woman in that leadership position. He hadn't known her, but he still reached out to her. word reach reached Amy that he was interested in talking to hers and she reached out to him. I had the privilege of seeing their interaction and Amy was so generous with her time and showed nothing but respect for our father and we greatly appreciate that and we grew to understand why it was that Amy was the right choice to be [Music] superintendent. When he saw that he knew was leaving the school and right Oh, this picture as he mentioned I began in my superintendent role only one a little more than a year ago.

098So many of your stories I'm just now learning today. But his impact is great. I mean, he influenced me as well. I know you all known him for a long time and myself have known him briefly, but I got to know him during our conversation. Now, in my role, I was informed that someone had called and it was Ken. So, I arrived in my office and I saw a sticky note saying, "Please call Ken Norton." I said I asked my secretary Lisa. He said, "What's this?" And he goes, "Oh yeah, he's already connected to the school." So, okay. I called and we just chatted for hours and hours here and there frequently. I mean, he loved to share different stories and I as the new superintendent appreciated very very much because I didn't have that

099historical knowledge and and he was he gave me the opportunity to learn the school through his eyes. [Music] The very first phone call we had, we were conversing and the one thing that really impacted me, he was asking me questions about who I am. So I was telling him a lot of things and we realized there were a lot of connections. I grew up in Minnesota and so he was talking about how who he knew specific people in Minnesota and we were making these connections even the age gap but we live in such a small community that we are able to connect in many different ways. Now after that phone call we were getting ready to hang out. He said wait how can I support you? And I was blown away. I I mean that

100was probably my first leap in my job. like no one and I just felt like I know a lot of people are going to, you know, be there to support me. I know that. But for him to say, "How can I support you?" I was taken back. I mean, I felt like I knew from him that this is a really good community that's going to support me as I start my work. And it really shows who a true leader is. Wanting to support other leaders. often times he's just he's a clear example of a leader. I feel like now I want to become like him. I'm going to pursue that goal. [Music] You know, my job is a big job. And I know sometimes he'd reach out and say, "I know you're busy." But he'd

101leave messages on my video phone. And it wouldn't be just one message. He'd leave several. He would say a few things and then after he wasn't he would be done, he'd be like, "Hey, wait. Make sure you look at that first message. That's what I'm calling you about now." So, I just realized that. So I'll see this call like four, five, six of them, but I know that they're all from Ken and he would talk about all the things that he was leaving in the messages. [Music] Ultimately, he really truly loved CS. His last message that was left on the message machine on my video phone will always stick with me. It was goodbye. He said, "I want to say goodbye to you, Amy, and to CSC." It was clear that he wanted to say

102goodbye. And it wasn't to say goodbye, but that he would always watch over all of us. He'd watch over you and the CSB is what he said. So I know that he's here with us right now and he will always be around with us. He wants you to know that he is always looking over us. And it kind of feels like a full circle because like he knew like I knew I don't know how I knew but we were sitting there and a lot of you talked about him and how he talked about CSD and his students were number one and his heart was was for his students and that really impacted me because we recently just had CSD. We just had our school accreditation last week and we were fully recommended to be fully

103accredited and what they recommended was that our school is the very first thing is the students part that is number one and that was the very first thing that he's saying is obviously all of this work has been passed on and now we're seeing it continuing on to this day. So I want to thank you Ken for all of the work that you've done here and we will continue your legacy. Thank you. Now, I've got a couple quick things. First of all, thank you all for coming. We'll have some refreshments at the high school activity center if you need to ride there because it's a bit of a walk. You have to go around the construction zone. Please ask the folks outside for a ride. We have a couple of people. Oh, what? Oh, we're

104not done yet. My apologies. Sorry. Forget it. Whenever Ken, whatever community Ken came in contact with, he became return to gold. The result of all his growing family with Audrey was the primary concern of his life. Ken and Audrey still love Kurt, Nikki, and their growing families. It was just amazing to see and couldn't speak highly enough of their kids now their own. [Music] They love their parents as well as who who stayed with them in spirit. What did you just do? What always sticks with me is Ken and Audrey's love to their family. And you know, come to think of it, Ken now is finally with Audrey again. They can once again share their love, their passion. and look out for their children just in a different way. You'll always have their love. And

105what a great friendship Margie and I had with the two of them. It was just amazing and such a blessing to us. Of course, I had a wonderful 63-y year marriage to my wife, but along with that, we had three amazing [Music] children. Our oldest was born in Texas. That was Nikki. And the two boys were were born in Sul Oklahoma. There were three amazing kids. Sad to say, our youngest, D only to be 32 years old. We lost him to cancer. Nikki and Kurt have been the absolute best kids I could ever have hoped for. Love them to death. And even now as I'm getting old and nearly helpless, they're always there to help me out. Always coming over, always looking after me. And I appreciate that so much. I'm forever grateful to Nikki

106and Kurt. They're just great kids, the best in the world. As I mentioned, we are going to have refreshments. I think there may be a couple of people who'd like to uh share a few quick words. Am I right? [Music] Oh, what can we start with? How you good to see you again. Hi everyone. I'm Steve Blondo. I went to the school in Berkeley, class of 71. I think a few members of my class are here today. Aren't they? Anybody here from 71? There were only 10 of us. Ken was one of my first teachers there. He helped me through a time in junior NAT and became really good friends along with Frank Church who some of you know that long ago they were very close. They're the ones who started the junior CS to

107them fostering leadership and youth was key and we're so grateful all the leadership opportunities that Ken and Frank foster for us. He believed strongly in the school and having kids come here early so that they would have that chance to thrive throughout the entire school career. Three qualities that I'd like to share of his was he was very protective of children. He was a great teacher and also a great friend. I'm not going to go through all the stories I have because I don't want to put you into sleep. back in 1973 during the process of the school talking about moving to Fremont. He was a staunch advocate of staying in Berkeley. Barry Griffin who some of you may know who was the head of the California school department of education at that time. He

108called him in for a meeting to ask why he was so angry. Actually, I didn't say that Barry was angry at Ken and and that superintendent's father is a good friend of Ken. And now Ken is speaking out against the CDE's plans to move. And so he asked him, "Why do you think you should stay in Berkeley? Do you know all what's going on?" And Ken hadn't known. He hadn't known that the school had been built on the fault line and that that was the impetus behind the discussions to move the campus. You know, the state wasn't in a position to fix anything. If an earthquake happened, the school would have to be closed completely and then there wouldn't be a school. When Ken learned that those were the options, then and that maybe Northern

109California kids would have to go to Riverside. He said, "Okay, we do need to find some other place for the school." That was around 1973. That was a very important year. And Ken was involved in all the discussions what site might work someplace near Berkeley. No place right nearby was going to work. But there was land here in Fremont and the state decided that would be a good site. I think it was 70 778 or other. There was a town hall meeting held at the previous school in Berkeley. Neighbors of that campus came by as well to discuss moving or not moving. And all the pros and cons were aired. But there really decision had already been made. There's absolutely no way the state could afford to maintain that kind of a school on that

110kind of a fall line. And that for the future of education of our deaf children and to maintain this school's continued existence, the school had to move. And that was an example of how we protected deaf children. We knew that he worked at the school for the death of Oklahoma. Dr. Hall was that superintendent at the time and they just could not get along in those days. Ken was work teaching in that morning and going off to work the farm in the afternoon and the superintendent said that wasn't sustainable but they couldn't find a middle ground. Kento decided to rethink things to change his own attitude and work for an optimistic position. And he became more cooperative with the [Music] superintendent and said, "I'm here to support you. How can I support you?" Exactly what

111he said to Amy, although many, many years before that. He came with a with an attitude of support for the superintendent and and together they negotiated a different structure for Ken's employment and that resulted in a lasting friendship. And then he came here and worked with that that superintendent and because that the current superintendent here at that time had spoken with Dr. Hen knew about Ken and wanted Ken to be here. Some of you may have seen the letter that he sent you and he said Dr. Paul wrote a letter to me Berkeley superintendent said dear Dr. robber at his feet because he coached Ken of Oklahoma. By that time, Ken had become Hall's favorite teacher. His wife was really fond of him as well. But Ken's heart was in Berkeley and that often came

112the stale stick in favor of Berkeley. So Ken and his family moved here. If it hadn't been for Ken's relationship with Paul and the way that he learned to be adaptive in his attitude, then his history here at the School for the Deaf wouldn't have been as illustrious as it has been. He has just that emotional intelligence to always know what to do and how to work with people. He reached out to me at one point back in the 80s and that was when computers are like these huge IBM things that you took the whole desktop. He called me asking for some help. Leo Jacobs told him that I might be the guy to ask for that kind of help. I went to his home and I chatted with him and Audrey, my first time

113meeting them and I wanted to take him out for dinner and they didn't know if you're helping us so we're going to treat you. And so I started going their home a number of times and they always put out a good deed. He wrote that book when eagles times that was published. He wanted to get a good picture taken of his Harley. You could take it camping in Yoseite with his friends. There's a picture up there of Jacob's and his father there. The three of them, the three of them were on that [Music] harve and then we have to come back during the day and work at the cafeteria even in the rain. Three of them will get back on that Harley and ride back out there again. We do that every day. And I

114think it was in 2017 when it was around 90. We got a number of folks [Music] here at 90. He wanted to get back on a motorcycle. He got on with me. We we we got him up on it. It was a little bit tough to get him on, but I I drove him to the restaurant. I wonder what everybody thought of us. Why Why are you taking that old man on your motorcycle? I had a lot of great experiences with him. I did a video interview with him. Total of three hours of footage, but I'm not quite done editing yet. When I finish that, I'll give it to Nikki and Kurt and their approval. I'll share with the school as part of is part of the history of the school. We have so many

115stories that we have to pass. [Music] I'm nervous, so I'll talk [Music] briefly. That's my son. That's better. Thank you. My son Troy, he's hearing Berkeley when I was in seventh grade. Or let me back up. So I was born in Africa but mainstream and then went into the desk in Berkeley for the first time. Met Ken and what he did was when I came in it was pigeon sign English. So he was like trying to I was trying to talk and he was like no you got to sign and I'm like I'm nervous and trying to communicate but that night we had dinner in the cafeteria and kind of looked around. I was like this is not what I eat. I grab food. So Ken said no no eat. Come on. He sat down

116next to me offer. It was a hamburger and fries, I think. He said, "You got to eat." And I said, "Okay." I took a bite. And I'm like, "Okay, all right." And he'd bring me food from from home that he cooked, his wife cook to make sure that I would actually love Berkeley. And that's actually how I wrote to start like to be there. And then when I was in ninth grade before CSD here opened in Fremont, yeah, that was 80. So, um, there was a family situation. So I was in Oregon death school and Ken reached out to Jane which is a teacher who just recently passed away and she came up to me and said you and I was like oh and he goes why are you here in this school and I

117was like I told him this is a situation with my family and he's like no come back. I said I don't know my family in Ethiopia and my parents and aunts and uncles are in DC and he said no no no no come on. So he got on the phone with Jane and was telling her that she needed to come here. It was my uncle in Washington DC. Uh they were talking about how they wanted me to move here and flew. And then Dane sent me back um and stay with that family. But yeah, when kids came in, he said, "Never leave again. Don't you ever leave again. You are staying right here until you graduate, you go off to college, you get a job, whatever you want to do, and then you come back

118and work in student life." But that's one year as him. He's like my dad. Everything. He'd make sure I eat, um, make sure I was dressed good. He'd make sure of anything. He wouldn't ask me of anything. He'd just see me and then knew if I needed anything, he'd put something in my in a bag in my dorm room or cottage room and I'd walk like, "I don't know who this what's this from." I remember I got new shoes. He gave me a new sweater that was CSV on it. Some other stuff. I didn't know it was him, but then finally later on he said, "Hey, that was me." But to me, he was like a dad. He was the best role model I had in my life with my parents being in Ethiopia. I'm

119going to miss you very much. I love you, Kurt. I love you, Nikki. Your families. Love you [Music] all. Pal is up for 10. I'm Daniel Gerard. I'm the student engagement and and leadership development coordinator. The department used to be known as pardon. I it was formerly the high school adjustment teacher. Anyway, I I feel like I've come full circle and now we've got some stories to share. I'm Sihong. I am the director of instruction here at CSD. I had been a principal of the high school and so I worked with Daniel and that was when I first met Ken at Frank at that time. He believed strongly in student engagement and leadership development. He done he did so many activities for the students to give them leadership development opportunities. I mean we we've seen

120how much he and Frank did for the school. You remember that acronym W I N wanted important and needed. When students feel those three things they feel part of the school. I learned so much from Ken and from his undying passion for the school that you've heard about from others and we both felt that CSD needed to do something. So we created an award in his honor, the Kenneth W. Norton Outstanding Leadership Award that was started in what 2019 when we invited him to come see the inaugural presentation of that award. Remember the name of the student? No, but I'll find it. Here's a picture of that Ortiz. This is the only photo that I found with the two of them her along with [Music] Ken. You know, Ken's focus was always student first and

121that's why we wanted to have this special award along with the scholarship to get the Frank Tur scholarship. So, it's nice to have that dual way of acknowledging students and memory issues. Right now, Ken's legacy continues here at CSD and it will forever. Thank you. And this will be our last speaker. This is Jim Davis. His picture is on the back of the program book as well. He's there with Peterson. He was a very fast runner. He's an amazing athlete. Take it away. Hello, I'm James Davis, senior. I'm from Oakland. Grew up there. When I attended school in Berkeley, it was 1965. The English teacher and the coach football track 1963 championship [Music] team on the running back. I was really really good. Nobody could catch me. We had be at a fourth down but

122then be back up at a first down and and be able to just break through and we were six and0 and then in 63 we had a tied game but won two straight championships. He was a good coach. He was strict coach but Ken was a good one. Basketball much let track want three straight championships in the 100 yard, the 220 yard and the relay. One championship can always be first. Always be first. Three straight championships. Then in ' 65 at Galedet University it was the Olympics in ' 65 the death Olympics we had Germany France we had Italy everybody was here and I went in practicing we training I was [Music] first I made Sometime I made it second, someone else made it first. But then we ran the 200 meter. I made place

123first. That was in the world championship. It was the final run and we beat them. It was an upset. Won the championship right at the cake. had three gold medals. Thanks to Ken. He was a great coach. Provided a lot of practice and training. But thank him. Love him. Love you. Thank you. [Music] Hey, hello to Ken Norton's friends and family. I went into Berkeley in 1977 and I think Ken needs some laughter right now. Okay, now we're going on through all the history and everything he's known for, but we need to increase the laughter. So that time at the school as a student and Ken, we would hang out. We would go to basketball, football, have these games versus Riverside and our school and you know the history behind that. But I saw Ken

124walking by with white socks. I'm looking at him like, "What? But he looked good. He was all dressed nicely with white socks. But I didn't bother to to go up to him. I don't know. Okay. I mean, yeah. I mean, he's already a legacy leader. But, uh, went into Berkeley and then 77. And then he came by and said, "Hey, Ken, why why the white socks?" He said, "Oh, the white socks. You guide them with colors. The odor, they stinking." I said, Oh, okay. I respect that. Like, white socks. You know, I like to look good at myself. I like to dress up. But again, I'd, you know, tease them here and there, see them every time. He'd sit there with his white socks and I'd look at him. I was like, "Come on, try

125to like make him a little lower, like make him look cooler." He's like, "Okay, whatever, whatever." You know, we kind of go back and forth. And then, uh, the time is nearing for his time to go. I videoed with with Ken quite often, maybe like three or four times, but either the third or fourth time Kim, you know, we were talking and he noticed that there was something on my shoulder and I said, you know, you're ready to go. But we talk about socks. You see this? I'll always remember you wearing these. And he pulled them up. He pulled up his leg filled with white socks. I was like laugh and laugh and then he laughed and laughed but it's a wonderful memory lucky that it again. Thank you all so much for being here.

126Please join us for some refreshments to find your way to the high school activity center. And Joey, you got something? Joey here? Yeah. But the high school activity center, if you can't go the way you might norally want to go, you have to go out of theater and circle around to the right. And if you need a car, we have some available.