WILTON – Norman W. Meldrum’s passing was celebrated on the morning of Jan. 6 with prayers and blessings in the Native American tradition recited by a new friend. Many hands made it possible for Norman to remain at home with his family throughout his long illness.

Norman was born at the old hospital in Farmington and lived in West Farmington during his early years. He was educated in the old three-room schoolhouse, and the “new” high school on Middle St. He attended UMO, and received an Associate in writing and business from UMF.

Norman was a cook and a painter, and could make anything out of nothing with his hands. He enjoyed reading as well as traveling to visit his friends in Canada. He home-schooled his youngest son, and passed on many skills to all of his boys.

He was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War with the support of his Pastor at Henderson Memorial. He volunteered for the Maine Draft and Military Counseling as well as for ROSC (Research & Organization for Social Change).

Norman was a self-taught web designer, and was one of the first in Maine to do web sites accessible to the blind. Through ROSC, he founded abilitymaine.org, an online journal for people with disabilities, and worked with a dear friend in Mass. to develop an online poetry and prose magazine. He advocated on statewide disability councils until the movers and shakers realized that what they said behind closed doors was being published statewide and even worldwide. He will be sorely missed by the disability movement.

Norman leaves behind a wife, Barbara; son, Noah; two stepsons, Nils and Leif Devine; a sister, Ava Crocker; a stepmother, Dorothy Meldrum; a niece, Misty Crocker; and two nephews, Michael and Christopher Crocker.