William J Norton, 1936-1996
Billy was born July 23, 1936 in a “non-air-conditioned” taxicab on the
way to the hospital – an occasion, according to his mother, for her first ever cigarette – administered by the ad hoc midwife, a New York City cop.
He was the third child in the family, preceded by his two older sisters, Rosetta (born December 16th 1931) and Mary (born December 14th 1932). It was the seventh year of the Great Depression. Two more boys would subsequently be born – a war baby, Albert, born February 26th 1943, and a post-war baby boomer, Michael (that’s I) born April 10th 1948.
Billy was an alcoholic gay man who struggled with his demons in an age when the "homo" label was a curse-word. He was estranged from his family for many years before his death.
I’m the family genealogist, and my searches through records about my brother Billy were fraught with frustration year after year. I suspected that he had passed away, but could find no Social Security Death record for him. I doubt if he ever worked long enough to earn enough Social Security “points” to claim benefits. I did find an address for him in Staten Island for the year 1996. It turned out to be a Nursing Home. I wrote to the CEO, explaining that I was looking for my lost brother, but never received the courtesy of a reply.
Later I searched a website dedicated to New York City’s “Potters Field” and found a record of his burial. Using this information, I was subsequently able to obtain a death certificate from the city of New York.
Whether it’s just the way things are done in New York City, or some other final indignity for a guy who led a difficult life, the records indicate that Billy died in August of 1996 on Staten Island, NY, but was not buried for almost a year (July 1997). Whether he willed his body to science, and that’s the reason for the delay in burying him, I don’t know at this point. His remains are on Hart Island (Ciff Cemetery) – New York City’s “Potters Field” – operated by the Department of Corrections.
May he rest in peace.