In passing
Barna Norton, 89, bird-watching host
Jonesport, Maine Barna Norton, who for four decades ferried bird lovers from around the world to Machias Seal Island, was found dead by a housekeeper Monday. He was 89.
Norton took bird watchers 20 miles out to sea from this remote area of eastern Maine to watch thousands of puffins, arctic terns, common terns and razorbill auks frolic on the rocks of the 15-acre island.
Norton’s great-grandfather, Barna “Tall Barney” Norton, laid claim to the island for his family in 1865. Citing different historical records, the United States and Canada both say the island is theirs, a dispute that has yet to be resolved.
Once a year, Norton would parade around the rocky outcropping with a large American flag, a way of thumbing his nose at the Canadian government.
The stern of his 30-foot boat Chief defiantly identified its port of registry as Machias Seal Island, U.S.A.
Although they accuse Canada of stealing their bird-covered island, the Nortons said Canada did a fairly good job running the island and they would make no changes if they managed to take control. Relations between the Nortons and the Canadian ranger and lighthouse keeper remained friendly.
Norton turned over the daily ferry runs to his son John in 1985.
Hamner Hawkes, basis for ‘Waltons’ character
Willamsburg, Va. Marion Hamner Hawkes, a tomboy-turned-nurse who inspired the character of Mary Ellen on television’s “The Waltons,” died Monday following a long illness. She was 74.
Hawkes was the sister of the show’s creator, Earl Hamner Jr., who based the characters on his family and experiences growing up in rural Virginia during the Depression.
And just like the character in the show, Hawkes was the oldest daughter who was every bit as rough-and-tumble as her brothers.
Hawkes graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in nursing and spent years working in the field. Like Hawkes, the character of Mary Ellen also grew up to become a nurse.
“The Waltons,” a ratings hit for CBS from 1972 to 1981, told the stories of a large, close-knit family in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains through the narrative of the oldest son, John Boy, an aspiring writer.
Over the years, thousands of “Waltons” fans trooped to the Nelson County town of Schuyler to visit Hamner’s real-life boyhood home, which was the model for the one depicted in the show. Hamner eventually sold the home.
Electa Johnson, 95, sailing enthusiast
Hadley, Mass. Electa Johnson, who took young people on seven around-the-world voyages on tall ships, died Friday at a nursing home in Holyoke, Mass., her son said. She was 95.
From 1932 to 1958, “Exy,” as she was known, and her husband recruited young people to serve as crew and sailed around the world.
At first, they sailed aboard a 92-foot wooden schooner and later on a 96-foot steel brigantine, both called Yankee. Between circumnavigations, they took Girl Scouts on summer cruises along the New England coast.
The Johnsons toured the country, presenting slide lectures and films about their trips. They wrote eight books and were featured in articles in National Geographic magazine, as well as in the society’s films and videos.
In 1958, they built a 50-foot ketch, once again named Yankee, and for the next 18 years they sailed Europe’s canals and inland waterways and voyaged up the Nile River.
The Rochester, N.Y., native was fluent in French and German and spoke six other languages.
Donald Puddy, 67, NASA flight director
Houston Donald Puddy, a Veteran NASA flight director who supervised Apollo, Skylab and early space shuttle missions from Mission Control, died Monday after a lengthy illness, NASA officials said. He was 67.
The Oklahoma native joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 1964, becoming the agency’s 10th flight director.
Puddy supervised a number of significant missions, including Apollo moon missions, Skylab space-station flights, the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975 that brought U.S. and Soviet spacecraft together in orbit and the landing of the first shuttle mission in 1981.