[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN HONOR OF JEFF NORMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 2008

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to pay 
tribute to the life and memory of a dear friend, Jeff Norman, who died 
last fall at the young age of 56. Jeff was a longtime resident of Big 
Sur in my central California Congressional District. He was many things 
in his short life: botanist, historian, author, activist, to name just 
a few. But to the many people whose lives Jeff touched, he will always 
be remembered as a friend, an inspiration, a pillar of support in times 
of need, and the possessor of a most acute acid wit that could add 
humor and common sense to the most tense and fractious meeting.
  Jeff was born in Oakland, CA, and moved to Pebble Beach in 1962 with 
his parents, Don and Kathy Norman. He found his life's work as a 
naturalist at a very young age. While only 14, he discovered a fern 
unknown in Monterey County at Pico Blanco Boy Scout Camp. At 15, he was 
the youngest person hired as a lab technician at Hopkins' Marine 
Station. He graduated from Pacific Grove High School in 1969 and then 
attended UCSC.
  Jeff's childhood experiences in the Big Sur area drew him back to the 
coast following college. He built a life for himself in this creative 
and fiercely independent community of the Big Sur coast. He lived in 
Palo Colorado and Bixby Canyons, and on the Post Ranch. In 1980, Jeff 
purchased his dream home, Alta Vista, a unique, handsplit redwood cabin 
that was built in the 1920s by the Overstroms, a homesteading couple. 
Jeff lived for 28 years in his beloved remote sanctuary three miles 
above the highway with no road access. It was a life that few still 
choose to live in modern America, but Jeff sought it out with both 
gusto and grace. Yet Jeff was very much connected to the world around 
him, especially the people, history, and environment of Big Sur. 
Indeed, his life's work was the preservation of both the natural and 
social fabrics of Big Sur.
  Jeff's enthusiasm for gathering information, seeking answers, and 
solving puzzles was insatiable. He found equal joy in discovering a new 
species of clover or swapping wild tales with an old timer. As a 
consulting biologist he was fiercely protective of the unique ecology 
of the Big Sur region. Over the years he worked as a biologist for many 
different organizations, including the U.S. Forest Service, CA State 
Parks, UC Santa Cruz, the Big Sur Natural History Association, the 
Esalen Institute, and the Monterey County Planning and Building 
Department, among others. An active member of the California Native 
Plant Society, he was a consultant for the Big Sur Land Trust and the 
Monterey Pine Forest Watch.
  As a social historian, Jeff was a friend and chronicler of the 
larger-than-life characters of Big Sur, including homesteader families 
such as the Posts, Harlans, Ewoldsens, Pfeiffers, and Trotters, artists 
and bohemians, intellectuals, conservationists, ranchers, and other 
folk. He was in his element when he was lecturing on local history and 
natural history at libraries, museums, Pacific Valley School and Big 
Sur Elderhostel or presenting talks on Robinson Jeffers for the Tor 
House Foundation. He was a charter member of the Big Sur Historical 
Society and past president and member of the Friends of the Big Sur 
Library. In 2004, Jeff co-authored Images of America: Big Sur with the 
Big Sur Historical Society, a book that traced the history of the coast 
from the days of the homesteaders with numerous never-before-seen 
photographs of the coast. He also co-authored Big Sur Observed with Kip 
Stewart in 1994, and was a major contributor to Donald Clark's Monterey 
County Place Names (1991). At the time of his death he was 
energetically at work on a new book about the bohemians of Big Sur.
  Madam Speaker, I know that I speak for the whole House in extending 
my condolences to Jeff's family and friends. He will be greatly missed. 
He had mastered the art of a life well lived. So while we mourn his 
passing we are grateful for the spark of wonder and stewardship that he 
ignited in all of us.

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