A celebration of life will be held next Thursday for Wayne Norton, a Port Moody resident and Canadian Baseball hall of famer who passed away earlier this month at age 75 after a three-year battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Norton played 1,200 minor-league games during the course of his 12-year career, ending with the Vancouver Mounties, where he became good friends with Nat Bailey. In fact, in the 1960s, Bailey loaned Norton the money to buy his PoMo home, where the Norton family has lived ever since.
Norton was instrumental in starting the National Baseball Institute, which trained future Major League Baseball superstars like Larry Walker, Justin Morneau and Ryan Dempster. He was also a scout for the Seattle Mariners, with whom he worked until his death.
Norton is survived by his wife Trudy, son Steve and daughter Elizabeth.
The celebration of life will be held in the Inlet Theatre and Galleria at Port Moody city hall (100 Newport Dr.) on Feb. 8, at 6 p.m.
The family said that in lieu of flowers, a donation to the ALS Society of British Columbia’s (www.alsbc.ca) patient services in Wayne Norton’s name would be appreciated.
@gmckennaTC
