Norm is 90!
Elk Nonagenarian: Norm Rudman
Norm Rudman turned 90 in September and, in doing so, became our newest Elk nonagenarian. In accepting this honorary title, Norm was kind enough to recount for us how he and his wife Joan found Elk in 1968.
“Finding Elk on Highway 1 was easy. Headed back to LA from a camping trip on the islands off Washington and British Columbia in the late summer, it was lunchtime, and there was the Greenwood Pier serving salads containing nasturtiums, with apple pie for dessert. And perfect weather. But for five years thereafter, Elk was in competition with locations ranging between Point Arena and the Columbia River, as we sought a place on which to establish a toehold. And ultimately, it was almost happenstance that our Fort Bragg broker had the Cameron Road parcel available at a price we could afford just as we were beginning to despair of finding something. Even then, it was
another five years before we actually bought a Pacific Frontier (remember them?) kit house and had the exterior erected, leaving the interior to keep my hands from idleness. Finally, after 20 years of being part-time residents, yet developing friendships here as warm, perhaps more so, as those in LA where a livelihood was earned and children raised… it was over that span of time that we found Elk as more than a wee village and grew to regard it as the place to make our ultimate getaway.”
Norm was born in Chicago in 1930 to Albert Abraham and Lillian Rudman. His only brother, Bernard, was five years his senior and his hero. Bernard fought as a member of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne during World War II and died in a Nazi POW camp, just weeks before the war’s end.
In 1946, Norm moved with his parents to Los Angeles, where he finished high school and soon met Joan. It did not take them long to realize they would be life companions, and so they became until she passed the day before their 63rd wedding anniversary in 2014. They had two daughters, Paula and Suzanne, and one son, Bernard — who married Dianne, and whom Norm regards as his third daughter. Their daughter, Alexandrea, is his sole grandchild. Bernard predeceased Norm and Joan in 1993, of leukemia.
In 1952, Norm and Joan moved to Berkeley, and Norm attended Berkeley
Law. He practiced law in Los Angeles for 42 years, primarily (to make a living) for clients in the entertainment business and (pro bono) for clients in civil rights, civil liberties, or environmental matters. Joan and Norm moved to Elk full-time in 1998, where he continued to practice law part-time until 2015. He was 85 when he officially retired.
Aside from his long and illustrious career as a Hollywood attorney, Norm was a devoted community member. After drafting paperwork to establish the North Greenwood Community Association as a nonprofit, Norm was awarded the title of the first president (as is an Elk tradition, if you begin anything, you become its first president). He also served for 12 years on the Elk Community Services District Board where, according to Chief Bob Matson, he was invaluable in his role and is still missed by the current board.
These days, Norm spends his time in his lovely Cameron Road home reading, writing, chatting with friends and family on the phone, and enjoying a martini at the end of the day.