Norman Marshall Bush (1905 - 1989)

Born 8 Apr 1905 in Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

Ancestors

Husband of Rhea Marguerite (Teeter) Bush — married 8 Apr 1929 in Simcoe, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada

Descendants

Died 26 Sep 1989 at age 84 in Windsor, Essex, Ontario, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Brenda Rutherford [send private message]

Biography

Norman Marshall Bush was born in Port Dover, Ontario in 1905, the only son of storekeeper, Jimmy Bush and his wife Edith Marshall.^[1] His mother had a bad fall from a carriage when he was still very young. She was bed-ridden after this and Norman was raised mainly by a pair of aunts.^[2] When he was a teenager, Norm found instructions for building a radio. Actually the piece of paper they were on was blowing down the street and he had stooped to pick it up. He began to build radios and his uncle would build the boxes for them. And they sold the radios at his father's store in Port Dover.^[3] His mother died when he was seventeen.^[2] The following summer, Norm visited his friend, R Waddell, in Detroit, Michigan, an event captured in border crossing records.^[4] He briefly worked in Detroit before returning to Simcoe.^[3]
Norm married Marge Teeter on April 8, 1929 in Simcoe, Ontario.^[5] After the wedding, they honeymooned in Buffalo before touring around the Lake Erie shore. After the wedding, they lived in Simcoe and Norm worked for Martin's appliance store.^[2] He not only worked in the store, but also made 'house calls' to fix customers refrigerators and other appliances.^[6]
When World War II started, they came for all his radio equipment, so Norm decided to enlist. He was seconded to the RAF, where he rose to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. A radar specialist, he served in Britain and in North Africa where he set up radar stations for Montgomery's army.^[7]
After the war, he would end up back in Simcoe for a few years. He built one of the first televisions in the area in his workshop/garage and folks came from miles around to watch the one channel that could be received from Buffalo, New York.^[8] The first Canadian stations (in Toronto and Montreal) didn't begin operations until 1952,^[9] by which time Norm and family were living in the Windsor, Ontario suburb of Riverside and he was teaching electronics in Detroit.^[10]
Norm and his wife Marge were close friends of Percy Gowland and his wife Myrtle. Marge and Myrtle were first cousins, once removed. When Norm and Marge moved to Windsor after the war, they still made frequent trips back to the Simcoe/Caledonia area. And one of their primary destinations was always Myrtle and Perce's.^[10]
Norm remained healthy into his eighties when he contracted bladder cancer. He died in Windsor on September 26, 1989. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Simcoe, Ontario.^[11][12]

Sources

1. ↑ Ontario, Canada Births, 1869-1913, Norfolk, 1905, pg. 12 of 79.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Information remembered by Brenda Rutherford, as related to her by Norm, who was her grandfather.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Remembered by Norm's grandson Howard, as recounted to him by Norm.
4. ↑ Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists, 1905-1957, 1923, B, pg. 3163 of 3251.
5. ↑ Information well known by the grandchildren including Brenda, who all attended Norm and Marge's 50th in 1979. This was also Norm's birthday.
6. ↑ Email from former Martin's customer in Simcoe, Clarence Morris, Dec. 5, 2016.
7. ↑ Entered by Dave Rutherford, from various conversations with Norm, who was his wife's grandfather.
8. ↑ WBEN-TV Channel 4 went on the air in 1948.
9. ↑ See Wikipedia entry for Television in Canada. The first television stations in Canada did not go on the air til 1952.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Information known by Brenda Rutherford
11. ↑ CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project, entry for Norman Bush.
12. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 24 April 2020), memorial page for Norman Marshall Bush (1905–26 Sep 1989), Find A Grave: Memorial #15756098, citing Oakwood Cemetery, Simcoe, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada ; Maintained by Clarence Morris (contributor 46783702) .

See also:

• 1911 Census of Canada, Ontario, Norfolk, Sub-District 52, Port Dover, pg. 3 of 10.
• Photos courtesy of Joyce Rivait, Bill Young and Brenda Rutherford.