James C. Norton

James Collins Norton, 82, of Birmingham, Alabama, went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, December 14, 2021. He was preceded in death by his father, John Ambrose Norton, and his mother, Wilma Collins Norton.

He is survived in death by his lovely wife of 62 years, Patsy Norton; daughters, Susan Ramsey (Blake) of Charlotte, NC; Betsie Carey and Whitney Till of Durham, NC; son, Scott Norton of Hollywood, CA; eight grandchildren including Griffin Carey of Anderson, SC; Kelsey Francik of Upperco, MD; Hayley Carey of Raleigh, NC; Locke Ramsey of Greensboro, NC; Fisher Ramsey of Breckenridge, CO; Collins Ramsey of Charlotte, NC; Peyton Till of Snellville, GA; Bailey Till of Blairsville, GA; and many other family members.

Born and raised in Birmingham, Jim attended Shades Valley High School. At an early age, he was involved in Boy Scouts and later became an Eagle Scout. He attended Duke University and the University of Alabama. He received his degree from Birmingham-Southern College in 1961 as a Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Scholastic Fraternity graduate, winning the Alpha Kappa Psi Award for the highest cumulative grade average in the School of Business.

He began his business career in management with Birmingham Wholesale Floral, and in 1974 entered the life insurance business as an agent with Lincoln National Life. In 1984, he earned his Certified Financial Planner designation and formed Norton Financial Inc., an independent financial planning and insurance agency.

He was a member of Canterbury United Methodist Church and served as Chairman of the Religion in American Life Program as a member of the Birmingham Junior Chamber of Commerce.

He loved golf, playing a championship calibre game most of his life, serving as President of the Birmingham Golf Association and being inducted into the BGA Hall of Fame in 1975 in recognition of his competitive, promotional, and administrative gifts to the game. In 1982, Jim was Chairman of the LPGA golf tournament at Hoover Country Club. In 1999, he was one of the founders of the Metro Senior Scratch Golf group. Jim was a member of Vestavia Country Club since 1967 with prior memberships at Woodward, Green Valley, and Chase Lake. He won golf championships at each of these clubs.

A memorial service will be held Tuesday, December 21 at 1:30 pm at Canterbury United Methodist Church in the chapel.