Ross Norwood, retired mechanic and Baltimore community leader, dies

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

Ross Norwood, a retired mechanic and home repair worker who played the guitar, died of kidney disease March 10 at FutureCare Courtland near Pikesville. The Pimlico resident was 88.

Born in Waxhaw, North Carolina, he was the son of Heath Norwood, a farmer, and his wife, Whitelow Kilgo Norwood, a homemaker.

He attended public schools and was a graduate of Waxhaw High School.

“He had fond memories of working on his family’s farm,” said his son, Brian Lyles. “At the end of life, he still dreamed of driving a tractor.”

Mr. Norwood later moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he met and married Cora Lee Williams in 1958. They had one child and divorced in 1961.

By the mid-1960s Mr. Norwood moved to East Baltimore’s Madison Street near the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He worked at a Sealy Mattress manufacturing plant, among other jobs, and also worked in rental property repair and maintenance.

Mr. Norwood did not drive a car.

“His eyesight was beginning to fail as a teenager and he rode bikes everywhere. When he found discarded bikes and bike parts, he reassembled them for neighborhood children,” his son said.

He met his future wife, Juanita Lyles, over a 1974 telephone call. She was the receptionist at the Jenkins Memorial Home on Caton Avenue in Southwest Baltimore. He called the senior citizen residence for a friend and engaged Ms. Lyles in a conversation. They met in person a year later, dated and married June 30, 1979.

Mr. Norwood joined the Citizens Planning & Housing Association (CPHA). He was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Park Heights Networking Community in 1996. He was a block captain for Oakford Avenue.

“He was the embodiment of a servant leader. He quietly and humbly made contributions to his community,” said a friend, James French. “I first met him when he was organizing with the Citywide Liquor Coalition to limit liquor ads and billboards near schools.

“I remember him being happiest on a fishing boat. Whenever we went fishing, Ross caught the most,” Mr. French said.

Mr. Norwood was a musician who loved blues, jazz and gospel music. He played guitar in several groups.

“In later years my father told me and my sister that one night he was a backup player for [entertainer and singer] James Brown,” his son said.

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In 1982 he completed training in auto mechanics through the Maryland Rehabilitation Center and was employed in the field for several years. He worked at the Earl Scheib auto shop at Greenmount Avenue and 25th Street.

“He enjoyed working with his hands on all kinds of home repair projects, and away from home he had a special love for fishing,” his son said.

Mr. Norwood also attended workshops in computing and life skills at Blind Industries & Services of Maryland.

“My father was a determined man,” his son said. “He was from a small town and growing up in the 1930s was not easy. His eyesight deteriorated over time and he eventually lost the use of his legs. And yet he took Mobility transportation to the Blind Industries and to his dialysis appointments.”

Mr. Norwood was co-founder of the House of Prayer of Restoration Church where he served as a deacon. He had also been a member of the Evangelical Baptist Church.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at March West Funeral Home at 4300 Wabash Ave.

Survivors include his daughter, Sherry Norwood-Phelps of Charlotte, North Carolina; a son, Brian Davis Lyles of Baltimore; two granddaughters; six great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

His wife, Juanita Lyles Norwood, died in 2017.