Larry Dell Norton

Larry D. Norton was the youngest of five siblings, born September 28, 1949 to Albert L.

Norton and Mamie L. Norton.

As a child, Larry was considered bright and extremely intelligent; he attended Dunbar

Elementary, Middle School and was always a Principal’s Honor Roll recipient graduating

from Dunbar High School in 1968.

Even as a young man, Larry was well dressed and serious in nature with a well thought out

blueprint for his next chapter. Immediately after graduation, he enlisted into the U.S. Air

Force as an Aircraft Maintenance Specialist. While attending Basic Training in San Antonio,

Texas, Larry took leave, returned to Fort Worth, and married his High School sweetheart,

Cassandra J Parish. Following the completion of his training at Lackland Air Force Base,

they began their lives together at his first assignment in Laredo, Texas.

Similar to his high school tenure, Larry was laser-focused and quickly acquired an extensive

knowledge of Aircraft Maintenance. He was rapidly promoted from Airman to Sergeant

during his assignment at Laredo Air Force Base; and was elevated to parenthood. God

blessed Larry and Cassandra with their first child—a beautiful baby girl they named Sebrina

LaShawn Norton.

Larry completed an overseas assignment to Ubon, Thailand during the Vietnam conflict.

While there, he again demonstrated quick decision-making and leadership receiving a

promotion to Staff Sergeant.

Following his Overseas assignment his expertise was further recognized; returning to the

United States as an Instructor of Aircraft Maintenance with a new assignment to Sheppard

Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. During that time, they welcomed their second born,

a handsome son, Brian Jermaine Norton.

Larry was a champion of education and advancement. While serving in the military, he

showed interest in business and science, and began taking night classes at Midwestern State

University. Completing his military commitment to the Air Force in 1977; Larry chose to

stay in Wichita Falls to finish his college education, resulting in a Bachelor’s degree in

Business Administration.

True to form, this great progress didn’t come without accolades. While a student at MSU,

Larry was the recipient of the Wall Street Journal Award and selected by the State in the

Finance Department as the Outstanding Senior in Finance of the Graduating Class of 1977.

Because of his fascination for the medical field, Larry chose to pursue a career in the

pharmaceutical industry. This professional journey began at Smith Kline & French (which

later became GlaxoSmithKline) where he spent approximately 8 years. Larry continued to

advance approximately 20 more years with Janssen Pharmaceutical (a subsidiary of Johnson

& Johnson). Over the course of his almost 28 years in pharmaceutical sales, Larry held the

titles of Executive Sales Representative, Corporate Trainer and District Sales Manager,

achieving numerous awards over the duration of his career. He retired from Janssen in 2011.

Larry was truly a “Renaissance Man'' and had an insatiable desire to travel. One of his

favorite expressions was, “God created a magnificent world and I want to see as much of it as possible”.

Checking out some other amazing country was always top of Larry’s mind. And he was

truly blessed to have Cassandra, who never objected to any country he wanted to travel

to. She would simply say, “It doesn’t matter where we go, just as long as we’re together”.

Some of Larry’s most enjoyable moments were spending time with his incredible wife

watching the sun rise in some foreign country or just watching a movie together on

Friday Date Night. His preference was always spending time with Cassandra—not

spending time with a bunch of guys watching football. He has always felt that Cassandra

was a “gift” to him from God. Larry expressed, “She possesses so many wonderful qualities it

made it an easy decision to spend more time with her.”

Larry never forgot that it was God’s blessing, grace and mercy that made all the successes he

achieved possible. While living in Denver, Colorado, He re-dedicated his life to Christ at

House of Joy Miracle Deliverance Church, under the Pastorship of Dr. Ralph Beecham.

Larry’s baptismal service was exceptionally poignant in that he and Cassandra were baptized

together.

They eventually relocated to Texas and attended North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship

Church, under the Pastorship of Dr Leslie Smith. Being a ‘master at numbers’, Larry…

served on the Finance and Trustee Committees at Amity Bible Church, under Dr. Leslie

Smith and continued to be a faithful member.