Kerrville UM leaves $200,000
to church, $100,000 to conference

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
Eileen Norton of Kerrville danced in the rain.
During her 89 years, she took every difficult moment, every aching disappointment, every tragic lesson and used it to become better.
When she was a child, her family oftentimes had nothing but oatmeal or beans to eat for weeks at a time. So she saved carefully and never let anyone she met go hungry.
As a young woman, she was robbed and beaten in her own home. So she concerned herself with protecting other women from the same pain and fear.
As a married woman, she never bore children of her own. So she loved deeply the children who entered her circle.
And though Norton died Nov. 10, her legacy continues.
Norton left half her estate—$200,000— to First UMC, Kerrville, and a quarter of it—$100,000—to the Southwest Texas Conference’s Board of Pensions.
“Here in Kerrville, her example has encouraged other people to be more generous,” said the Rev. Warren G. Hornung, senior pastor of the 2,427-member Kerrville congregation. “Her example has reminded us that there are other needy people around us.”
The Rev. David A. Seilheimer, conference treasurer, said Norton’s gift to the Board of Pensions was a testament to how the clergy members in her life ministered to her.
“It’s a real witness to the importance of her faith and of her church in her life,” Seilheimer said. “Anytime someone shares her faith in such a striking way, it really gives you joy for your own faith.”
Hornung said Norton was always generous. She traveled every year, but before she went on a trip, she would bring a check to the church to “help the needy people.”
Norton grew up in West Virginia with six brothers and sisters. None in her family received education beyond the fourth grade, Hornung said, because they were so poor.
At 15, Norton married her husband, a welder.
They were thrifty people, Hornung said, refraining from purchasing a car for the first five years of their marriage so they could save money. They paid cash for everything, he added.
The couple moved to Columbus, Texas, where Norton headed up the clothes closet for First UMC there. She did that for 17 years.
After her husband’s death in 1990, Norton moved to Kingsville and joined Christ UMC, Hornung said. In 1998, she came to First UMC, Kerr-ville.
“She would meet with me every Tuesday,” Hornung said with a chuckle. “Every Tuesday for almost 10 years. She always called me ‘dear boy.’ ‘How are you, dear boy?’”
He laughed.
“We’d visit for about 30 minutes,” he said. “Church was her life. She immersed herself in it.”
She was a major contributor to the Kerrville food pantry, Hornung said, and she became involved in the church’s missions committee and all activities related to hunger. She was the Good Cheer chair at the church and would send out cards to hundreds of shut-ins every year. She was one of the prayer warriors.
Hornung, the independent executor of Norton’s estate, said her instructions were to give everything she owned away. In addition to her money, he donated about 75 colorful hats, many colorful clothes and about 50 pairs of shoes to local causes.
The church gave 10 percent of Norton’s gift to Mount Wesley Conference Center, Kerrville, Hornung said. The rest of the $200,000 goes to the church’s building fund—because Norton was very committed to growing the church, Hornung said.
Norton set a lofty example for those who knew her, he added.
“She was the kind of person who was constantly looking for new and creative ways to help needy people until the day she died,” he said.
At the end, Hornung said, Norton feared that no one would come to her funeral. But the memorial service was packed and had to be delayed because so many people wanted to share stories about how Norton had blessed their lives.
She will see no more of sorrow’s rain in heaven. But she is still dancing.