Norbert Walter Poth died August 18, 2007, from congestive heart failure, hypertension and complications from adult onset diabetes, in Morgan Hill, California.
He was born on July 2, 1924 in Mannheim, Germany was the son of Josef Poth and Hedwig Walter Poth and brother of Wilfried Poth. He lived until age 14 in Mannheim, when his parents moved to Heidelberg, a picturesque university town about 15 miles away. Having suffered poor health as a youth, he was passed over by the German military draft during World War II. He attended the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, where he eventually earned a Masters Degree in Agronomy. In 1951 he emigrated to Canada, sailing from Italy to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then traveled by rail to Toronto, Ontario. As a new arrival, knowing little English, he worked at a succession of menial jobs – tobacco farm laborer, nickel ore miner, baker’s assistant, railroad section gang laborer, spot welder at a farm machinery factory, and finally as a laboratory technician at Connaught Laboratories. At Connaught he handled the rhesus monkeys being used in the production of polio vaccine.
He met his future wife, Veronika Niedra, formerly of Balvi, Latvia, then a student nurse, while living in Toronto, Ontario. They were married on December 26, 1953, and his first son, Andrew, was born the following October. In 1957 he decided to move his family to the United States, having purchased some property in the Illinois Valley near Cave Junction, Oregon. Arriving during an economic slump and unable to find work there, he relocated to San Francisco, working as a laboratory technician alongside the late Dr. Norman Shumway and other yet-to-be famous surgeons, developing the techniques for heart transplantation. During that time his second son, Felix, was born. In 1959 the opportunity arose to return to Cave Junction, where he had found work as a lineman for the local telephone company. After working in this occupation for several years, he felt there was limited future in such work and decided in 1962 to return to school to become a teacher. In 1964 he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a minor in science from Southern Oregon College in Ashland, Oregon. Teaching positions being scarce in the Illinois Valley, he moved his family to Turlock, California, where he taught at Wakefield Junior High School. In 1966 he moved his family to Davis, California, where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in just one year of intensive study. Searching for work after graduation, he got an unexpected offer from Morgan Hill Unified School District. In Morgan Hill he taught German to Junior High students at Gwinn School in San Martin from 1967 to 1969, before moving to a position at Live Oak High School, where he finished his teaching career in 1985.
He enjoyed painting, gardening, traveling and camping.
Norbert and Veronika celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in December 2003. She preceded him in death on June 4, 2004. He is survived by his sons Andrew Poth and Felix Poth, his daughter-in-law Pamela (Gilstrap) Poth, and grandchildren Angela Poth and Eric Poth, all of Morgan Hill.
Visitation will be held at Johnson Funeral Home 17720 N. Monterey St., Morgan Hill, California (Tel. 408-779-8456) on Monday, August 27, 2007 from 4 P.M. to 8 P.M., followed by a vigil service to commence at 7 P.M. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Catherine Parish, 17400 Peak Ave. on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 10 A.M., followed by interment at Mount Hope Cemetery in Morgan Hill and reception at St. Catherine’s Parish Hall. Flowers should be sent to Johnson Funeral Home for delivery on the afternoon of August 27.
