Nonprofit co-founder used helping others to heal his family’s grief, dies at 73
.jpeg "Robert and Shelly Norris founded Corey’s Network, a nonprofit that assists families of homicide victims with counseling, legal guidance and funeral support.")
When Shelly Norris lost her son, Corey Laykovich, who was murdered in a random stabbing in Independence in 2013, she felt as if a piece of her had been yanked away. Her husband, Robert Norris, was the one who found a way to help her manage one of the most traumatic moments of her life.
She remembers once sitting with her husband in a restaurant, and when a waiter walked by with a plate loaded with what used to be their son’s favorite meal, Norris, who was still grieving, began to cry.
“He reached over, handed me a napkin,” Norris said talking about her husband. “Then he said, ‘Go ahead, baby,’ and that was probably the most supportive thing he could have done, just letting me grieve without feeling embarrassed in public.”
Robert Norris, who worked in network configuration at Butler Manufacturing/BlueScope Steel, and with his wife co-founded a non-profit remembering their son, died Oct. 5. He was 73.
His wife still remembers that day in the restaurant, how his gesture that day helped her and how what he did afterward changed the way the couple would live their lives.
After leaving the restaurant, the two came across a woman whose car had stalled. She needed help. Norris helped push her car out of the street and into a parking lot. Afterward, he told his wife that the way they would get through their pain was by helping people.
Soon after that day they founded Corey’s Network, a nonprofit that assists families of homicide victims with counseling, legal guidance and funeral support.
Robert Norris served as vice president of the nonprofit and became the same pillar of support for the families that Corey’s Network helped, that he had been for his wife in her grief.
Over the past decade together, the Norrises have used their work to partner with various organizations, including AdHoc Group Against Crime, Mamas on a Mission, Children of Homicide Victims and Missing & Endangered KC.
“Bob made sure we connected with different groups so we could provide better services for our clients,” Shelly Norris said.
She said her husband spent countless hours vetting cases with Kansas City police, Kansas City, Kansas police, and the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. The work he did included creating reward posters and scheduling anniversary posts on their website for victims.
Norris said she is thankful for the love that he showed her as a husband and as a father, not only to his three children, but also to her three after the two created their blended family.
Bobby Hoyt thinks that to those who never met his father, he probably appeared serious, perhaps even intimidating at first glance.
But Norris was the opposite, Hoyt said. His dad had a unique sense of humor and a personality that was warm and welcoming. He was someone who believed in healing through helping.
Though Norris may not have been a man of many words, those who knew him saw him as a man of action.
“Our relationship when I was a kid was complicated,” Hoyt said of his dad. “But he always showed up when I needed him there, and he was always there encouraging me.”
Hoyt remembers one particular night. After a late night out, he was stuck on the side of the road after two of his tires blew out. He called his father knowing he would likely have to have a conversation he had been dreading.
Hoyt, who was married with two kids, was going through a divorce and also coming out as gay. He didn’t expect his dad would understand or support that.
“He asked me why my wife wasn’t the one picking me up,” said Hoyt. “I said because I told her I was gay, and my dad just said, ‘Okay,’ and that he still loves me and would love me no matter what.”
Hoyt said that having his father’s love and respect gave him the strength to move forward and live his truth.
Hoyt said his dad’s greatest pleasure in later life was being a grandfather. Norris, who played the saxophone throughout his life, was overjoyed when Hoyt’s daughter also began playing the instrument.
“When my daughter Catalina started picking up the sax, it gave them a chance to bond and I think that brought him a lot of happiness,” Hoyt said.
Norris’s daughter, Natalie Danner, remembers that family was everything to her father. She says there was nothing her father would not do for her or her two-year-old son, Legend. Her father and son had a deep bond. Norris called her every day to check on his grandson.
“It’s been kind of hard,” said Danner. “Because he loved his ‘Pawpaw’ and asks about him almost every day.”
Many people have reached out to tell them how the organization impacted their lives after the death of a family member and how Norris’s kind words or deeds helped them through grief.
Family members said that knowing that Norris touched the lives of so many people in the community has been a comfort to them.
“His love and his work will keep going,” said his wife. “Through Corey’s Network, through the families he helped, and through every person who refuses to give up hope.”
