by Larry Chowning –
Middlesex County and the Deltaville community have just in the past days lost to death the lives of Walter Allen Harrow, Willard Norris and Norton Hurd.
For those of us who have lived in Middlesex for life and many of you who have moved to the county, these men touched so many of our lives. It seems inconceivable that all three could have left us at the same time.
What is even more inconceivable though is that Middlesex County and Deltaville were blessed to have had them all at the same time and for so long. Their deaths, sad as they are, highlight how “lives well lived” can reach out and touch others in a positive way.
Walter Allen Harrow
Mr. Harrow died on Christmas Eve at the age of 87. He was an educator, preacher, charter boat captain, husband, father and grandfather and excelled in everything he ever did.
Mr. Harrow, at 29 years old, had a historical life moment in 1963 as principal of Middlesex High School that would touch generations of county citizens. It was the first year of integrated schools in Middlesex and the county fathers hired a young county native Walter Allen Harrow to guide the great-great-grandchildren of slaves and slaveowners to put aside past sins, to come together, to work together, to learn together, to behave together and to show respect for one another.
I personally got off the school bus that first day of school at Middlesex High School in 1963. I, along with others, was greeted by Mr. Harrow and a line of state troopers on the sidewalk. We were herded into the MHS auditorium where Mr. Harrow spelled out the rules and what he expected from us all — to be kind, understanding and treat everyone with respect and decency — lifelong lessons.
That first year of integration when 13 African-American children entered our all white schools, principal, teachers and students (Black and white) were all trailblazers in a new way of life to come. Mr. Harrow was our compass who guided us all through one of the most concerning times in Middlesex County educational history.
After that and throughout my life whenever I saw him I felt a sense of security in having known and seen the strength that he brought to our community in 1963. We got through that first school year with social decency and then another school year together, and every year that we have gotten through together with that decency, is a tribute to the life and strength of Walter Allen Harrow.
Willard Norris
The community lost Willard Norris, 94, on Jan. 7. Of the three men, Willard was the only one who when we greeted I called him by his first name. My first remembrance of Willard was in 1959 when I was a 9-year old on the Urbanna Baseball Little League team and Willard was coaching the Deltaville team.
We became “first-name” friends starting in the early 1980s when I began visiting him at his boat shop behind his home. We soon bonded over our shared love of Deltaville boatbuilding history and our family history that went back to before I was born. His wife Shirley and my mother Emily would see one another as children when Shirley (Harrow) would visit her maternal grandparents (the Daniels) at Topping near my mother’s growing-up home. They also knew one another at Syringa High School. Willard, Shirley and I spent many an enjoyable hour at his shop and in their living room talking of days gone by. I was always welcome!
Willard was born in 1927 in Deltaville to a traditional boatbuilding family. In fact, he had boatbuilders on both sides of his family. His grandfather, Ed Deagle, built deadrise boats on the shoreline at his home on Jackson Creek where Willard was born. His uncle, Pete Deagle, repaired log canoes next door. Willard learned the trade by helping his uncle Alfred Norris at his yard “across the road.”
With the help of his wife Shirley, the newlyweds built their first “paid to build” boat in the footprint of their soon to be living room and used the profits from the boat to complete their home.
He later went on to work for his uncle Lee Deagle at Deagle and Son Marine Railway. The railway was a melting pot of wooden boatbuilding knowledge as the yard employed former log canoe and deadrise boatbuilders, many working there between boat orders. On the side, Willard was building traditional wooden boats.
One day, Willard got an offer to work for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) in charge of maintaining boats. After retiring from VMRC, he continued to build boats and run fishing parties. Over his career, Willard built more than 100 deadrise boats and was still building boats in his shop at the age of 91.
Willard’s legacy lives on today as the Deltaville Maritime Museum builds “Willard Norris skiffs” at its boat shop as a tribute to the man and Deltaville’s boatbuilding heritage.
Norton Hurd
Mr. Hurd died on Jan. 8 at the age of 104. With every birthday, people marveled at another year for Norton Hurd. Anytime of the year, when one would ask how is Mr. Hurd doing, you’d hear the same thing ‘I saw him working in his store last week (Hurd’s Hardware). He is doing fine.’
Mr. Hurd’s life was an inspiration and sign of hope to all of us that we too could live so long and in such a quality state beyond 100 years. Somehow it was not as surprising that Norton Hurd was doing it. In life, he almost seemed bigger than life to those of us who he knew from the cradle.
I knew Mr. Hurd most of my life as his daughter Myra and I are the same age and we graduated together in the class of 1968 from Middlesex High School. My first remembrance of Mr. Hurd goes back to Aug. 30, 1957 when my mother packed me and lunch into the car and we drove to Grey’s Point. It was an important day in Middlesex County history.
Our county history has always been strongly tied to the Rappahannock River as the river has for generations offered a daunting challenge for those needing to cross it — with no bridge. That day the bridge was here and it was dedication day at the Robert O. Norris Jr. bridge. I was one of the 5,000 people to attend the event. We crossed to the Northern Neck on the last ferry boat ride and rode home across on a new modern concrete bridge.
But in the meantime, we attended the ribbon-cutting dedication on the Middlesex side. Each side of the bridge had a dedication and on the Middlesex side Norton Hurd and his 3-year-old son Jack had been picked by county fathers to kick off history and cut the ribbon. Young Jack, with the help of Mr. Hurd, cut the ribbon. As they were cutting, Jack pinched his finger with the scissors and burst into tears.
(What I remember is that in the midst of all that pomp and circumstance, Mr. Hurd consoled his son, checked on the finger and gave him a hug! He knew what to do.
When Mr. Hurd and I would meet on the street, in his store or here at the Sentinel, he always extended a friendly handshake and with his firm squeeze and friendly approach you felt that here was someone who sincerely cared for everyone he met.
What a privilege it has been for me to have lived a lifetime knowing these three men! We can only thank God for the lives of Mr. Harrow, Willard, and Mr. Hurd. The way they lived life should be a definitive clue to us all as to how we should live our own lives. Amen!
