King Herbert Norris, 73, of Chaptico, died Tuesday, April 16, at Medstar Southern Maryland Hospital, Clinton, from complications related to cancer.

Born July 24, 1950 in Leonardtown, he was the son of Joseph Elmer Norris Sr. and Mary Ora Hill Norris of Chaptico.

He attended Holy Angel-Sacred Heart School in Avenue and graduated from Chopticon High School, Morganza in 1971. King graduated June 11 and was drafted into the United States Army five days later. He was the last person from St. Mary's County processed for the Vietnam War.

Sadly, King's service in Southeast Asia would define his life. The U.S. Army assigned him to the 212th MP Company at Long Bihn, an ammunitions dump 10 miles to the northwest of Saigon, Vietnam. Exposure to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange first caused health problems related to his central nervous system in 1979. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014. In 2020, he was diagnosed with leukemia, which doctors successfully treated with a new drug which cost $15,000 a month. Earlier this year, his cancer returned with a vengeance and metastisized to his spinal column.

His mother once told him that King was "born in the wrong century. He should have been a mountain man," she said. He was a natural woodsman, hunting from the time he was a boy. He could track deer with such skill, he could often see the bushes moving up ahead where it had just passed through the brush. He loved to fish as well.

King was a talented craftsman. He loved to work with cedar, and crafted tables and art from the wood. He was also a talented singer and songwriter. When his central nervous system was affected by Agent Orange, he found that he could no longer play guitar or do his woodworking. He turned his energy toward helping others. Since Covid 19, he took food to the emergency room doctors and nurses at the Medstar St. Mary's Hospital Emergency Room twice a month at his own expense. When his friend's daughter needed a car, he bought her one. If a friend's child needed a swing set, he purchased one for her. There are numerous friends and family, too many to mention, who benefitted from his benevolence.

He was predeceased in death by his parents, and his dearest friend J.R. Shoemaker.

He is survived by his siblings, Joseph Leo (Mary); Kathy (Allen); twin brothers Joseph (Jackie) and David (Cathy); sisters Angie and Rose (Mel); his special "grandkids," Josh and Jennifer Thompson; many cousins, nephews and nieces, family and friends too numerous to mention. To King, friends and family were the same thing.

A Mass was celebrated Wednesday, May 22 at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Church, Chaptico. A Celebration of Life event followed.