Norman John Kilgore passed away on December 25, 2022, in Glendale, California.
He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Mary (Wendy) Kilgore, sons Robert (Susan), James (Melanie), David (Michele) and Daniel (Amy) along with nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild, as well as Norm’s sister, Lois Weishoff, and brother Larry (Jan) Kilgore.
Norm was born to John and Margaret (Peggy) Kilgore in South Pasadena on August 21, 1938, the first of four children. As a kid, he would hitch rides on trains that traveled by his house without telling his mom and he once ended up in San Bernardino because he fell asleep. As a teenager, he refurbished an old school bus so he could drive his Luther League class to the beach. He flooded his aunt’s car after he didn’t quite make it across the L.A. River, a hard lesson enforced by his dad who made him dig out the car by himself.
Norm was active in Boy Scouts, earned his Eagle Scout rank and encouraged his family to continue the tradition, which resulted in three of his sons and two grandsons achieving Eagle Scout as well. Scouting taught Norm to look for creative solutions, a skill that proved useful when he cleared out a field of gophers by splashing each hole with gasoline and then throwing in a flare that lit up the whole tunnel system.
Norm met his future wife, Wendy, at Pasadena City College. They were soon married and within 5-years had four boys and a house in San Fernando Valley. To support his growing family, Norm worked at Bendix, a Mobile gas station and attended night school at UCLA. Though he always worked hard, Norm made time for family camping trips, desert off-roading and bird hunting throughout the state.
After the ’71 and ’94 earthquakes severely damaged and nearly closed the Bendix facility in Sylmar, Norm’s talent for creative solutions (once again) allowed him to direct a team of contractors working around the clock to rebuild the infrastructure necessary to continue operations in less than a week.
Church was always an important part of Norm’s life. For many years he served at Salem Lutheran Church in Glendale as an usher and on the church Council where he rebuilt the commercial kitchen and surrounding grounds.
Norm once said he’d like to be remembered as positive, helpful to others and that the Good Lord blessed him with a loving family. Norm was a blessing to us all.
