Member Profile  By James H. Shott, III

 October 28, 2004

A. B. “Jeff” Norconk, Jr.

The second installment in our “Rotary Old Timers” profile series focuses on Jeff Norconk, who holds the distinction of being the member of Bluefield Rotary with the second longest tenure, after Jay Rodgin. Jeff has had continuous membership since April of 1948.

Born and raised in Towanda, Pa., Jeff attended grade school and high school there. He became a member of the Boy Scouts at age 12, and attended the first ever national Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington in 1937. Jeff achieved the rank of Eagle Scout with two palms, and later was involved in leadership positions with the Boy Scouts. As a student, he was active in school activities, being a member of both the band and choir, and playing football and basketball. Jeff said that every five years his high school class has a big reunion, but each year on the second Saturday in August, his classmates who are still in Towanda get together for lunch, and he tries to go back home to touch base with his old friends.

Jeff attended Northeast Missouri State Teachers College and while there took a civil patrol course where he learned to fly, and was in the 1^st Missouri Guard air squad while in college. He received a draft notice to report for duty in August 1942, but color blindness caused him to not pass the flying test, and since he was unable to serve as a pilot, Jeff instead enlisted in U. S. Coast Guard. He served 39 months, some of it in Hawaii. Jeff married just before going overseas, and had two boys and a girl, and lost one child. He and his first wife divorced after 29 years.

Following his stint in the Coast Guard, he attended Montana State University for a year, then returned to Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in pre-Osteopathy, but was unable to complete that coursework due to a lack of funds.

He then went to work, beginning a lengthy affiliation with the American Automobile Association in December 1948 in Portsmouth, Va., his first wife’s hometown. Shortly thereafter Jeff transferred to nearby Newport News as Branch Manager, and in 1965 transferred to the Richmond office, where he served the Lynchburg and Danville areas. Jeff came to Bluefield in February 1, 1972 as Branch Manager of our AAA office. A few years later, Jeff married Iris, who was the only Mrs. Norconk that we Bluefielders knew. Jeff retired from AAA in January of 1991 after a distinguished 42 years with the organization. Iris passed away the next year. They had been married for 16 years.

“I’ve enjoyed Rotary,” Jeff said, “and I wanted to stay in even after I retired. I look forward to the Tuesday meeting, and enjoy getting together with the members each week.” He said the organization provides a wonderful opportunity to meet people, and that is a real benefit to businesses. Jeff was named Rotarian of the Year, is a Paul Harris Fellow, and has served on the Board of Directors and several committees. He said he was able to maintain continuous membership in Rotary all these years, despite moving around to different communities, by making up meetings in his new location until he was able to join the new club. Jack McGhee sponsored Jeff’s membership into the Bluefield Rotary Club. We salute Jeff for his long tenure with Rotary.