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| This dignified portrait of Norman was taken in 1971. Copyright Dave Stovall. |
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| Photograph taken in 1965 of Norman meeting President Johnson. The photo is inscribed, "To Norman Lane With best wishes Lyndon B. Johnson." Collection of Iris Hyson. |
Norman's beverage of choice was Pabst Blue Ribbon beer...morning, noon and night...and he usually wore a construction hard hat. Robert Phillips, owner of the Silver Spring Auto Body Co. (demolished) provided Norman with a cot and a hot plate in his business, the closest that Norman would accept to the comforts of a home. Norman liked to rummage through the dumpsters behind Bell Florist and Pumphrey's Funeral Home (demolished) where he would retrieve discarded roses and then proceed to give one to each woman he passed on Georgia Avenue.
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| For years this sign was attached to the Silver Spring Auto Body Co. until it disappeared in 2003 after the business shut down. Photo taken by Jerry A. McCoy in 1996. |
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| Silver Spring Auto Body Co. sign donated by Charles Atwell. Collection of SSHS Archives. |
When the ABC television show "Real People" featured a 7 1/2 minute segment on Norman in 1979, it asked people in downtown Silver Spring if they'd vote for him if he ran for office. Everybody said sure with one black guy responding, "Why not? The last two white men I voted for were bums too."
Such a colorful personality seemed to beg to be immortalized and that was what artist Fred Folsom did, starting in 1974 by creating dozens of studies, paintings and lithographs depicting Norman. On October 11, 1991, four years after Norman passed away in the back seat of an National DC cab abandoned off of Sligo Avenue, Folsom dedicated a life-sized bronze portrait of him.
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| Oil on masonite, 12" x 12", by Fred Folson, copyright 1987. Collection of Jerry A. McCoy. |
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| Photo by Jerry A. McCoy. |
Please join the Silver Spring Historical Society on Thursday, April 14th, at 9:00 a.m to honor Norman on his 100th birthday. If anyone knew him, we would love to hear some stories. And if anyone knows how the tune goes, we could sing this song written in 1979 by Harry Merrick, then the lead singer of the five-member Chase Holiday Band...
"He's walking down the sidewalk, moving kind of slow. He looks kind of funny, but he's never feeling low. And if you ask him he'll tell you everything is OK. He never worries, you can always hear him say, 'It's all right, don't worry about it.'
He's the mayor of Silver Spring, Norman is his name. Things will come and go, but he'll always stay the same. People have to relax and take it day by day because he never worries and you can always hear him say, 'It's all right, don't worry about it.' "
6 comments:
Does anyone know where Norman is buried?
Perhaps we could check with the state medical examiner as they would have a death certificate for him. That certificate would say where his body was transferred/released to .
I recall he was buried in Rockville. I read about his funeral in the Washington Post. It was supposed to have been very well attended. I suspect I would have gone if I had known about it.
I had known Norman since I was a kid hanging around the Silver Spring railroad station. The employees there called him 'Smokey', likely due to his habit of chain-smoking Pall Mall cigarettes (unfiltered, of course). Around that time, I know he stayed in an abandoned car in the B&O parking lot behind the Eastbound waiting room, which was adjacent to the Canada Dry bottler. He also slept under the loading dock in the yard on the Westbound side (next to Georgia Avenue. This was around 1967-68. It may be that I just wasn't in tune to it, I was about 12 at the time, but it seems that at that time he didn't have as much; how shall I put it...cachet.
I lived at 808 Philadelphia Ave. then, so downtown S.S. was my stomping grounds. Being a kid on a Schwinn Stingray, I covered a lot of ground and saw Norman a lot and observed him in action. He worked the station platform in the evening, giving those roses to women waiting for afternoon commuter trains, expanding his fan base.
As I grew up, my best friend worked at Tom's Pizza and Norman spent a good deal of time there, too. The owner used to give Norman the cash receipts and trusted him to the bank to make deposits. In return he would get the occasional PBR. He sit at the table, drink the beer, stink up the place with cigaretts, and when he'd leave, he'd pour a little beer into the tin ashtray, like a good cub scout putting out his campfire. My buddy would implore him to not do it, as it just made it smell worse and left a bigger mess for him clean up, but Norman would just say.....
....Everybody remembers 'Don't Worry About It', but how many remember that he was equally fond of responding to questions by asking 'You writin' a book?'
My buddy actually has a picture of Norman on the grounds of Walter Reed that Norman presented to him and autographed. As I recall, it's a different shot then the one posted here, although I think it was taken at the same time. Maybe I can get a copy of that for your archives.
I recall he was buried in Rockville. I read about his funeral in the Washington Post. It was supposed to have been very well attended. I suspect I would have gone if I had known about it.
I had known Norman since I was a kid hanging around the Silver Spring railroad station. The employees there called him 'Smokey', likely due to his habit of chain-smoking Pall Mall cigarettes (unfiltered, of course). Around that time, I know he stayed in an abandoned car in the B&O parking lot behind the Eastbound waiting room, which was adjacent to the Canada Dry bottler. He also slept under the loading dock in the yard on the Westbound side (next to Georgia Avenue. This was around 1967-68. It may be that I just wasn't in tune to it, I was about 12 at the time, but it seems that at that time he didn't have as much; how shall I put it...cachet.
I lived at 808 Philadelphia Ave. then, so downtown S.S. was my stomping grounds. Being a kid on a Schwinn Stingray, I covered a lot of ground and saw Norman a lot and observed him in action. He worked the station platform in the evening, giving those roses to women waiting for afternoon commuter trains, expanding his fan base.
As I grew up, my best friend worked at Tom's Pizza and Norman spent a good deal of time there, too. The owner used to give Norman the cash receipts and trusted him to the bank to make deposits. In return he would get the occasional PBR. He sit at the table, drink the beer, stink up the place with cigaretts, and when he'd leave, he'd pour a little beer into the tin ashtray, like a good cub scout putting out his campfire. My buddy would implore him to not do it, as it just made it smell worse and left a bigger mess for him clean up, but Norman would just say.....
....Everybody remembers 'Don't Worry About It', but how many remember that he was equally fond of responding to questions by asking 'You writin' a book?'
My buddy actually has a picture of Norman on the grounds of Walter Reed that Norman presented to him and autographed. As I recall, it's a different shot then the one posted here, although I think it was taken at the same time. Maybe I can get a copy of that for your archives.
Mr. Ramsay,
THANK YOU for your really important first person accounts of Norman. Please feel free to post any additional reminiscences you recall about him!
Norman would show up at Fred and Harrys restaurant in four corners once a week and was well thought of.
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