He was known for some time as the world’s foremost authority on American Pentecostalism. He once told me, “Anyone can become a ‘world’s foremost authority.’ Just pick a really obscure subject, learn as much as you can about it, and write a book.”

My mother used to tell people, “I grew up right along with my kids.” Which makes sense when you consider she began having babies at 22.

 The day in 1951 that Norm got his draft notice, he told his boss as he left for his physical at lunchtime, “Don’t worry, they won’t take me; I’m 4F.”