[meteorite-list] Richard Norton

[Larry & Twink Monrad]

Dear Dorothy,

Larry and I are so sorry to hear the sad news about Richard.  Both of you 
must have known how much we enjoyed our many times together in Tucson.

One of the amazing things about Richard was his way of writing things that 
gave such feeling to the readers.  Two things have always remained in my 
mind and I wish to share them with others.

First of all, I consider myself, Larry, Jim Kriegh and our son Chris and 
daughter-in-law Bridget to be so very fortunate to have experienced this: 
We and the Nortons were gathered at our house after dinner and of course 
Richard was carrying on a lively discussion about meteorites.  At one point 
he asked that the lights be dimmed and  he wanted to see my copy of  Rocks 
from Space.  He turned to the Epilogue and began reading out loud from his 
book:

In late 1984, I gave a small iron meteorite to astronaut Dick Scobee in 
commemoration of his visit to the University of Arizona, where he had 
graduated in engineering.  Scobee was scheduled to command the space shuttle 
early the next year. I suggested, half in jest, that he return the meteorite 
to its home in space on his next voyage.  In a way, it would be a historic 
event - a meteorite returning to space! A few weeks later a letter arrived 
from Scobee.  He thanked me for the meteorite, calling it a "nice little 
treasure" and assured me that he would, indeed, return it "at least 
temporarily to the environment from which it came."  On January 28, 1986, 
the meteorite began its historic return journey but never made it home.  Nor 
did the crew of seven.  Their ship was the Challenger.

I still get chills when I read this passage and remember Richard reading it 
to us.

Another thing that he wrote which shows his deep thinking and good 
imagination is from his article in Meteorite magazine May 2001 on the Tucson 
Show.

Thank you, Tucson. Thank you, dealers. Thank you, collectors. Together you 
pulled off a memorable show.  As I watched  all of you enjoying yourselves 
at Jim Kriegh's "meteorite" party, my thoughts returned briefly to 1969 and 
the launch of Apollo 11.  I was surrounded by hundreds of reporters and 
delegates from around the world gathered to witness the historic event. 
Friend and foe alike intermingled, all with a common goal, to emotionally 
push the Saturn into the sky.  Old rivalries faded into insignificance.  In 
that brief moment the world was united as one.  Was there not a parallel 
here, all of us with a passion for rocks from space?

I think Richard would forgive me for copyright infringements so that those 
who do not own both publications  might understand how meaningful his simple 
words were to those of us who read them.

Watching Richard work side by side with Dorothy who helped him with his 
books and did such fabulous illustrations for all sorts of publications was 
a pleasure.

I too was fortunate to be able to hunt with Richard along with Jim Kriegh 
and John Blennert at Gold Basin.  A short funny story, Richard set up a 
telescope one evening at Gold Basin to photograph something special 
happening in the heavens that night.  At 2:30 AM he with great resignation 
put away all of his equipment asking us why we had not in advance informed 
him that the airliners flying into and out of Las Vegas every twenty minutes 
never quit, that they were interfering with his light or other conditions!

Twink Monrad