Deacon Keith Norrell: A life "working for the Lord"

Courtesy photo

+ Enlarge

Deacon Keith Norrell

OGDEN — Deacon Keith Norrell, who died March 20, was recalled as having “spent his entire life working for the Lord” by Father Kenneth Vialpando during the April 29 funeral Mass at Saint Joseph Catholic Church.

Deacon Norrell was ordained a deacon for the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 2010 and ministered at St. Joseph Parish until 2018; he subsequently moved to Mississippi.

St. Joseph’s was a fitting location for the funeral Mass because it was the deacon’s home base in Utah, said Fr. Vialpando, who served as the parish pastor from 2004 to 2016 and now is the diocesan vicar for clergy.

“Deacon Keith without a doubt became a household name for all of us here at the ‘cathedral of the north’ because of his Texas drawl, his Baptist background, his Catholic conversion, his charismatic preaching, his enlightening teaching, his amazing story-telling, his dry humor, his colorful Jeeps, his pipe-smoking, his cowboy mustache, his chewing-gum craving and above all his overwhelming love for his wife, Susan” and for his children and grandchildren and brother, Fr. Vialpando said.

He also thanked Deacon Norrell’s wife, Susan, for her music ministry; and their daughter Amanda, who served in the parish office.

“We … want the whole Norrell family to know that we are very grateful for all that you have done and for the legacy that you have left us with on this sacred and holy ground,” Fr. Vialpando said.

The deacon, a carpenter and woodworker, made the wooden altar that is in the parish rectory and the kneelers in the church’s adoration chapel, Fr. Vialpando noted, and so was a “reflection of Christ and of St. Joseph. … Because of Deacon Keith’s ministries and carpentry skills, he spent his entire life working for the Lord in the Lord’s carpentry shop, literally and figuratively, in order to build a house for the Lord.”

Throughout his various jobs, “Deacon Keith knew without a doubt who the real master builder and carpenter was: none other than Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,” Fr. Vialpando said.