About
Norm and Jim first met 2003. Over the years their lives overlapped through their volunteer work in community development. Fast forward almost 15 years, Norm and Jim were having lunch with a couple of friends. Norm was recounting a story of an event in his life which inspired one of the friends to encourage Norm to write a book. We all agreed that Norm had lived an extraordinary life and it was a story worth sharing. Jim volunteered to help him with the project. And so it started. After a couple of months of procrastination they began meeting once a week figuring timelines and format, recording around 20 hours of stories, working with transcriptions, sorting, editing, researching,and filling gaps. When COVID hit, they didn't miss a beat; they switched to zoom and were able to work on the manuscript together on-line. It took almost five years but the book is finally complete.
Norm Thomas
Norm, born on Cape Breton Island in 1928, grew up as a preacher’s kid, living in rural communities in Nova Scotia, P.E.I., and Eastern Ontario. As a teenager his focus was sports, singing, and having fun with his friends; academics played second fiddle. After taking a circuitous route in search of a vocation, Norm eventually earned graduate degrees in English and Theology and was also involved in post-graduate studies at University of Toronto and the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. Following his ordination in 1959, Norm discovered that as a United Church minister he was in the unique position to energize congregations and become engaged in community development and social action across Canada.
Norm lives outside Minden, Ontario with his partner Joan and their canine companion Winnie.
Jim Blake
Jim is a man of many hats—storyteller, artist, facilitator, consultant, project manager, educator, curator and community animator. Always looking for a new challenge, in the fall of 2017 he volunteered to work with Norm to write Norm’s life story; not imagining that it would turn into a five-year journey, revisiting decades of social change, a deep dive into the workings of the United Church, and following Norm and his indominable spirit across Canada.
Jim and his partner Myra oscillate between their homes in Haliburton and Toronto.