As I reread the obituary, it occurred to me that I knew Ray Norwood for forty years.  We met at one of the first fundraisers benefitting a then very green candidate for congress, Norman D. Dicks.  Ray was an early supporter and I was a college kid trying to get a job on the campaign.

Even then, Ray was a bigwig who had time to get to know a small fry.  We talked for quite a while and, for as long as I worked for Norm (he won after all), Ray Norwood got the best attention our office could muster.

Nearly a decade later, Norm had worn me out and I had gone off to do national political consulting.  However, my wife and I had started a family and it was time to be more of a presence in my home and less in the SeaTac arrivals lounge.

Thank God, Ray was looking for a State Government lobbyist and was willing to take a chance on the best athlete (the applicant with the broadest background for the job).  He turned down the incumbent's favored candidate and hired me.

Ray was the best boss and the most decent man for whom I ever worked.  Most people who know me and anyone who has worked with me knows the Norwood Rules:  Don't Cook in My Kitchen and No Surprises.  Along with their corollaries, Don't leave paper on my desk and bring me answers not questions.

For five years, I did my best to live by them.  Ray and I delivered some of the biggest public policy victories Washington Natural Gas had ever seen.  Actually, Ray delivered I helped.  However, it was a great ride working for a wonderful man and I loved every minute of the time I spent with him.

Everyone has a few people who have truly changed their lives, a teacher or two, a coach, a preacher, a boss.  Ray Norwood is absolutely at the top of my Life Altering List.  He gave me an important job, demanded that I do it well, and taught me how to be a professional. 

My next boss was not half the man Rat was although he tries.  [I became self-employed after leaving Ray.]

There is never a day in my professional life that something of Ray Norwood is not with me.  I will be forever grateful to him.  He and Marilyn opened their homes and their hearts to my family.  They were friends and mentors in every sense.  

We miss them but we benefit mightily from having the joy of knowing them.

Scott & Paula Nelson

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Raymond Albert Norwood Sr.

November 4, 1927 – May 26, 2015

Sunset Hills Memorial Park & Funeral Home

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