Ernestine ”Tina”  Norton, 98, longtime Kansas City resident, passed away at her home on November 23, 2023 after a brief illness.

She was born on April 9, 1925 in Clayton, Alabama to Ernest W. Norton, local attorney, and Alice Jean Woolverton Norton, native of Abilene, Kansas, who had served in France during World War I in the Army Nurse Corps.

After graduating from high school in Clayton, she attended Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, Virginia, then attended the University of Alabama to graduate in 1945 with a Bachelor of Science in Education. She earned a Master’s degree at George Peabody College, Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master’s of Religious Education at Woman’s Missionary Training School, Louisville, Kentucky.  

She served as Director of Religious Education at a Washington, D. C. church.

In her career as an educator, she taught in the English Department at George Peabody College, Wayland Baptist College in Plainview, Texas and Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas. Her career culminated at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri where she taught in the English Department from 1964-1990. 

In her Kansas City retirement, she was a member of DAR, the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church where she served on the Altar Guild. She volunteered at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  

Each Epiphany Eve, she enjoyed hosting friends at her apartment to celebrate the Twelfth Night.

She was pre-deceased by her parents and her brother James Thomas Norton.  She is survived by her niece Jeanne Norton Rollberg, Little Rock, Arkansas, her sister-in-law Joan Norton, Fleming Island, Florida, loving cousins, devoted friends, former students and P.E.O. sisters.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., December 5, 2023 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 6401 Wornall Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri 64113 with a reception to follow.  Her inurnment will be private in the church columbarium.

In lieu of flowers, donations in the memory of Ernestine Norton/English Department, may be made to Cottey College, ATTN:  Michelle Wood, VP, Institutional Advancement, 1000 West Austin Blvd., Nevada, Missouri 64772.