Newmarket remembers ‘one of our finest’

Michael Norton had love of helping others in his community

The night Newmarket resident Michael Norton was diagnosed with cancer, he sent a Facebook message from his bed at Sunnybrook Hospital to his friend Jen Bevin asking how he could possibly break the news to his family in Ottawa.

“He was like, ‘How do you tell your mom you’re going to die?’ ” said Bevin, adding Norton then went on to say it was “neat” God was going to take his life rather than that of a child or mother.

Then, his legendary sense of humour kicked in.

“Now, I get to eat as much bacon as I want. Cholesterol isn’t even a concern,” he wrote to Bevin.

She recalled the exchange following Norton’s death the evening of Dec. 28 at a hospice in Ottawa at the age of 51.

“Michael had the most amazing sense of humour of anyone I have ever met in my life,” Bevin said. “Even in his most excruciating moments in life, when his heart was breaking, he would try to find the humour in it and come up with something really wacky and fitting.”

Norton was well-known in Newmarket as someone who would jump in to assist anyone who needed a helping hand.

A self-employed jack of all trades, he did painting and gardening for seniors, found appliances for single moms, donated a portion of proceeds of refundable bottles to Armitage Village Public School’s breakfast program, helped out at the 310 Cope centre, Bevin said.

“We indeed lost one of our finest,” she said.

One of Norton’s final wishes was that his charity work be continued by the community, with people already having come forward to carry on his efforts when he fell ill.

As news of Norton’s death began to spread on Saturday, there was a great outpouring of grief for the man that Bevin described as Newmarket’s “ambassador of friendship, goodwill and humour.”

Norton leaves behind his mother, Dawn, father, Frank, sisters Wendy and Julie, brother, Jay, and dog Chase.

Roadhouse and Rose funeral home has offered to hold a celebration of Norton’s life. Details have not yet been finalized.