He has a long list of accomplishments illustrated by the many trophies he has won, He rode in his first rodeos in 1907, and won bronc riding honors at the first Calgary Stampede in 1912.

For Albertans who liked their beer and hard liquor, July 1, 1916 prohibition was welcomed with all the enthusiasm of an earthquake or a prairie tornado.

According to Marjorie, the family arrived on May 24 in Morley, only to find three feet of snow on the ground! It was these kinds of hardships that the pioneer men and women of Cochrane had to face on a daily basis. 

The school was heated with wood in a round barrel stove, light at night came from a coal oil lamp and the teacher lived with the family of one of the students while being paid the handsome sum of $600 for the year.

As teenagers, Norman and his brothers Ollie and Wilbert joined Sykes Robinson and other boys of the district to develop their rodeo skills on the neighbour’s steers, horses or even milk cows. The furious owners occasionally caught them snubbing-up an otherwise tame wheel horse.

At the time Calgary was a city of less than 200,000 people, and its western boundary was 14 Street N. W. Calgarians were attracted to the unique location, a landmark log building sitting some 700 feet above the city with an unparalleled view of Rocky mountain sunsets