Eternal Rest Grant Him . . .

Cobb Island Man, 75, Killed in Route 301 Crash

Cobb Island Man, 75, Killed in Route 301 Crash

By Jonathan Abel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 23, 2005; SM03



A Cobb Island man who was known for his gifts to residents of a La Plata nursing home died Monday morning when a tractor-trailer slammed into his car on Route 301 south of Faulkner.

Robert James Norris, 75, was turning onto Route 301 at Crossover Road about 7:45 a.m. when he drove his 2004 Cadillac Deville into the path of the southbound truck. The truck struck Norris's car on the passenger side.

Norris was taken to Civista Medical Center in La Plata, where he died soon after arriving. Police closed southbound 301 for 2 1/2 hours while they investigated the crash. The driver of the truck, 44-year-old Jimmy Dewayne Davis of Alabama, was not injured or charged in the accident.

Relatives remembered Norris as an extremely generous man. He visited a nursing home in La Plata practically every day to give candy, fruit and toys to the residents, said his cousin Steven Norris.

"He said for a $2 teddy bear they would smile all over themselves," his cousin said.

Robert Norris lived all his life on Cobb Island. When he was 16 years old his father died, and he was left to earn money to support his mother and four younger sisters.

Norris never married, his cousin said, because "he had too many responsibilities to think about himself."

Norris retired in the mid-1970s after years of running his own general store on Cobb Island and working as an oysterman.His Island Seafood company sold oysters and crabs from a boat, said his cousin, who worked with him.

Other interests included religion. His sister Lillian Irene Perk said Norris was very involved with his church, Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Issue, where he helped with Communion services. In addition to his cousin Steven Norris and sister Lillian Perk of White Plains, Norris is survived by his sisters Doris Jean Carter of Cumberland, Mary Elizabeth Hill of Charlotte Hall and Catherine N. Oliver of Waldorf.

Last year in November, an elderly gentleman came into our store because he had heard that we sold used books. He was stoutly built, moved quikly and he seemed to breathe with some difficulty, but that did not slow him down. He was so excited by the selection of used books he began whipping them of the shelves (not literally). At some point, I was concerned, I did not want him to over commit himself. He asked us to add it up and it came to a couple hundred dollars and his response was, "That's it?" He then proceeded to get a bunch more.

Over the next few months he would come in and buy things in bulk, like holy cards, posters, rosaries, etc. Soon we came to realize that he gave these things away. He was a very interesting and pleasant man to deal with. He always said that it made him happy to give away this stuff.

Most recently, about a month ago, he bought our entire stock of used books and a few hundred dollars worth of stuff to give out. The next morning, a friend of his brought a truck to haul the used books away. It was then I got more info on this gentleman. I found out that he had been a very successfull local business man and that he had a heart of gold. This person said that he more money than he knew what to do with, but he was very, very generous.

So it was with extreme sadness that I opened up our local regional paper yesterday and found out that he had been killed in an accident. The weird part is that he had asked me to call him in a couple of months from his last visit to see what else we had and I was thinking about calling. Oh well, c'est la vie.

He is now home, where we all want to be. You just hate to see it happen like this. Well, Godspeed, sir!