A large choir, dressed in bright blue, sings fervently at the center of the room. Parishioners fill the aisles as they reply to their new pastor with enthusiastic and hopeful “Amens.”
A month after the death of their beloved previous pastor, Dr. John Fredrick Norwood, the community of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1113 Clark St., continues to heal.
“He was like a father figure to me,” said Jermaine West, 17. “I never knew my father, and a lot of things a boy needs to know I couldn’t get from my mom, so I would get them from him.”
Norwood was the pastor at Mt. Zion since 1976. He passed away on Dec. 7 from a heart attack. Norwood was 81.
Parishioners remember Norwood as an avid activist for the community, a mentor to the youth and a father and friend to his parishioners.
“That week he was supposed to come to my band concert,” said Gabrielle Bell, 16. “He was supposed to come to my musical in March too. We were just talking about it.”
Parishioners said Norwood was both well-connected and in tune with the community. Because of his work, Norwood received both the Jefferson Award for Public Service and then went to Washington D.C. to accept the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal.
“He was just a good person all around,” said West, a member of the church since 1997. “He didn’t expect nothing back in return. He just gave.”
Before becoming the pastor at Mt. Zion, Norwood served on the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education and helped integrate the schools. He also worked with Family Focus, an organization that aids children by strengthening their families. Norwood convinced the school board to sell one of their unused buildings for only one dollar to Family Focus, said Cindy Mims , a close friend to Norwood for 27 years and a deacon at Mt. Zion.
He also emphasized the importance of community activism. He brought politicians to Mt. Zion in order to keep parishioners more informed about politics and to help them make good choices. He was also the first person to develop a chaplain service in the Evanston Police Department.
“The service included ministers of all denominations for all people,” said Helen Davis, 84. “Whether they were in trouble or were trouble, they could be helped. Victims and perpetrators alike can reach their religious representatives.”
Norwood also instituted a scholarship program at Mt. Zion based on students’ report cards, awarding all A’s with three dollars and B’s with two dollars.
“He just kept pushing,” Mims said. “There’s nothing you can’t do. It made (students who attended the church) proud to make him proud.”
Children, such as Xavier Black, 10, referred to Norwood as their best friend and a person they could always talk to and have fun with.
“He would take us all to this restaurant with nasty food and give me his anchovies,” Xavier said. “I hate them now, but I liked them when he gave them to me.”
Norwood constantly participated in simple activities like singing with the choir, and cooking and eating dinner with his parishioners, Bell said.
“It’s hard, and it’s rough,” said Davis, a member of the church who met Norwood in 1978. “I love him, and I’m sorry he’s gone. I’m just glad that our paths crossed.”
Reach Heidi Kim at [email protected].
