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Tribute to Norm
Memorial - March 1, 2025
Buenos Aires
We are gathered here in Chacarita Cemetary today to celebrate Norm. Chacarita is the geographic centre of Buenos Aires. Norm described Buenos Aires as his happy place so it is truly appropriate that Norm be laid to rest in the middle of his happy place. Take a moment and look around you. There are trees, flowers, nature all of which Norm had a great love and appreciation for.
Of the hundreds of messages I have received over the past few days Norm has been remembered as as gentle, joyful, kind, never boring, thoughtful soul. Most of all Norm has been remembered for his sense of humour. Our dear friend Rick, summed Norm up like this: “we will never again hear that infectious laugh that would follow a most unexpected and often irreverent quip. I will always think of him while I am ironing”.
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
I had the honor to have Norm in my life for over thirty three year and more than a partner he was a soulmate. Norm’s love of travel and sense of adventure, spurred on my love of travel. Twenty years ago, it was Norm’s suggestion that we come to Buenos Aires on a holiday. On our third visit here as we were walking down Callao Norm said to me “you should buy an apartment here” and the rest is history.
Norm loved music, particularly jazz music. In the sixties, he saw Bette Midler in a bar in Bermuda before she was a star and described here a “bawdy and crude.” He saw Ella Fitzgerald at a second impromptu 1 AM show in a smoky jazz bar in Amsterdam. Norm was a passionate reader, gardener, craftsman, designer and cook. We will never again have Norm’s famous salads, soups, square potatoes or Lomo. The thing that most people don’t know about Norm is he didn’t even eat lomo or meat!
Norm until his death had a full and fulfilling life. May we all be so fortunate to live a life like Norm.
I would now like to invite anyone who would like to say a few words or share a memory about Norm.
Just after I met Norm he embarked on a two month voyage through Europe. I was working but managed to meet him in several placed during his trip. When we were in a bar in Munich this song came on and I will never forget it. As this song plays and as we say our last farewells to Norm, let’s shed our grief and remember our most joyous memories of Norm. Rest in peace my dear friend. I love you.
https://archive.org/details/MoreThanWord
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