John Olin Norton, an engineer who spent a career with the U.S. Army, beginning in World War II and ending as a civilian with Army Missile Command, has died. A founding member of ASCE’s Huntsville Branch, Norton was 92.
Norton, P.E., M.ASCE, had spent a year at Mississippi State when the Army called him to service in 1942. After duties that included Allied occupation of Japan, he returned home and received a civil engineering degree from Mississippi State in 1949. He resumed his studies and later moved to Memphis, TN, where he worked for the Memphis District of the Army Corps of Engineers. Returning to civilian life, he worked for Army Missile Command on Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, AL, until he retired.
His highly active years in ASCE included serving as Alabama Section president and as a founding member of the Huntsville Branch in 1963, where he also served as president. As a supporter of Mississippi State he became president of its alumni association’s Huntsville chapter.
In retirement Norton wrote and self-published a book about his hometown, Guntown, MS. He is survived by a daughter, a son, and three grandchildren.
