Norman C. Mallory

1945 - 2013

Norman C. Mallory, 67, died Tuesday, March 26, 2013, at City of Hope Helford Hospital in Duarte, Calif., from complications following cancer surgery in January. Born July 16, 1945, in Salem, Ore., Norman was an only child and spent his youth in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Northern California. He graduated from high school in Chico, Calif., and earned his MA in English from California State University Chico; he also did work toward a PhD in English at the University of Nevada Reno, concentrating on the works of James Joyce and William Butler Yeats. While doing his graduate work, Norman taught freshman English at both of the above mentioned universities. He taught for the Ventura County Community College District for nearly 30 years in the areas of Humanities, Art, Film, Journalism, and all levels of English. He was first hired to teach full-time at Moorpark College in the early 1970s and transferred to Ventura College in 1984, where he retired from teaching in July of 2000. He was a resident of Ventura County for almost 30 years.

Throughout his life Norman considered himself an artist, above all. After concluding his teaching career, he concentrated on his art full-time for the remainder of his life. He felt a special kinship with drawing, continuously practicing this skill, as he considered it fundamental to his work. He was a visual artist and illustrator, primarily a painter, working in watercolor, oil, acrylic, and egg tempera. Norman was a very active member of the Flickr website, posting there more than 5,000 images of his work since joining in 2007. His work can be viewed there. He was a well-respected artist and a mentor for many young people who requested assistance and needed encouragement. He was known for his generosity in assisting other artists. His illustrations have appeared in many national and international periodicals such as Le Monde and der Freitag. He was also a published poet and essay writer, a musician, playing the guitar and mandolin, and a singer. He played in numerous acoustic bands and especially enjoyed performing gospel, bluegrass, old time, and country music. He was made an Honorary Lifetime Member of the "Old Time, Country, Bluegrass, Gospel Music Association."

Norman was a voracious reader of books; his taste was amazingly broad from science fiction, philosophy, biography, and history, to art, literary criticism, politics, and religion. A lover of libraries since the age of nine when he discovered the Anchorage Public Library while living in Alaska, Norman went so far as to marry his own librarian, Mary LaBarge, a reference librarian at Moorpark College. Their relationship began in 1984 and she was by his side at his death.

The accompanying drawing is by Mariah O'Neill.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to The Humane Society of Ventura County, at www.humanesocietyvc.org.

A Prayer Vigil will be recited Thursday, April 18, 7 p.m. at Ted Mayr Funeral Home, 3150 Loma Vista Rd., in Ventura. The funeral mass will take place Friday, April 19, 1 p.m., at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 3175 Telegraph Rd., Ventura.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home. Condolences may be left at TedMayrFuneralHome.com.