Deacon Keith Wayne Norrell

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Deacon Keith Wayne Norrell

June 18, 1951 ~ March 20, 2023

Keith Wayne Norrell, born June 18, 1951, passed away on March 20, 2023 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

He was preceded in death by his son Kevin and his parents. He is survived by his wife Susan; his children Miles, Jeff (Emily) and Amanda (Ben); grandchildren Lucian, Maceo, Chloe, Noah and Frannie; and brother, James (Karla).

Keith was born in Floydada, Texas to Elmer and Mattie Turner Norrell. He spent his childhood working in his dad’s tractor parts store, arguing with his older brother, doing well in math and terribly in English, and exploring outside, where he developed a lifelong love of the desert and a lifelong hatred for rattlesnakes. He was introduced to his future wife Susan by a mutual friend, and they married on September 10, 1971.

He dabbled in everything from law enforcement to vacuum sales to neutering calves to flying, before settling down as a mud engineer for Chevron and later a pipeline operator. He was a volunteer firefighter and EMT trainer during his time at Chevron; he retired in 2011.

A convert to Catholicism, Keith was ordained a deacon  for the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 2010 and faithfully served the community at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ogden until 2018, when his Alzheimer’s diagnosis began impacting his abilities in day-to-day tasks. Stepping away from his duties as a deacon broke his heart, but he knew it was time.

Avid road-trippers who loved nothing more than long drives across the country, Keith and Susan decided to make one last trip together in 2019. They sold their longtime home in Ogden, loaded up their Jeep, and drove to Mississippi, where they settled in Southaven in a little house with a duck pond out back. He spent three happy years in that house, watching the geese with his faithful dog Jax at his side, before moving into the severe cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s. Keith spent much of the last six months of his life in and out of hospitals for multiple severe health problems that accompanied Alzheimer’s disease.

His family requests that in lieu of flowers, which he was a bit allergic to anyway, donations be made in his memory to Catholic Community Services. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 506 24th St., Ogden, on April 29 at 10:30 a.m.