Mount Carmel grad killed in avalanche

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Chris Norris. Supplied photo

Updated: February 27, 2012 9:51AM

A Mount Carmel High School graduate who was killed Sunday in an avalanche while skiing in Colorado was remembered Wednesday as a selfless and determined “lovable kid” who came from a “wonderful” family.

Chris Norris, 28, a married father of two young children, died of asphyxiation after he was caught in a small slide at Mary Jane Ski Area, near the Winter Park Resort, according to Grand County (Colo.) Coroner Brenda Bock. Resort officials said his body was found in a wooded area on Mary Jane Mountain after he failed to meet up with his companions.

Norris, who moved from Chicago’s Beverly community to Colorado after going to college there, was married to his college sweetheart, Lynn. They had two children: a 31/2-year-old daughter, Indyka, and a 7-week-old son, Sage.

“Chris really was the type of guy you can’t say anything bad about,” said Mike Hurley, of Chicago, a family friend. “I don’t like that cliche you hear whenever somebody dies, especially when it’s tragic, but I don’t think there’s anybody in the world who would ever say anything bad about him. He was just always in a good mood.”

Norris was a 2002 graduate of Mount Carmel, where he played rugby. After he went to Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., he still would lend a hand to the program when he came home on breaks, his former coach said.

“He played all four years for me. He wasn’t the greatest of athletes, but he was one of those kids who never, ever quit trying,” said Jack Cushing, Mount Carmel’s rugby coach from 1988 until last year. “And when he came back from college for the summers, he was always saying, ‘What can I do for you?’ He was that kind of kid. He was absolutely a lovable, likeable kid, and he came from a wonderful family.”

Norris’ mother, Carol, and a brother, Craig, live in Evergreen Park. Norris’ father, Herbert, died a few years ago.

According to kdvr.com, the website for the Fox television station in Denver, Norris moved to Colorado from Chicago to go to college and never left. He loved the high country and was passionate about skiing and the outdoors, as is his wife.

“It’s very, very hard. We were soulmates. I loved him more than anything in the world. He’s the best man, the best father. He’s the best husband,” Lynn Norris told KDVR earlier this week.

Chris’ brother, Nick Norris, told KDVR, “My little brother meant everything to me, and watching him go from a goofy kid in college I thought was going to be a ski bum, hanging out with friends, going to concerts, drinking beer, to starting a family with Lynn. ... Watching him be a dad, it was amazing to me. I mean, I was his older brother, but I looked up to him for that.”

Lynn Norris told KDVR she never really worried about Chris skiing. She knew it made him happy.

“If you really love somebody, you’re going to say, ‘Go for it,’ and you just say, ‘Be as safe as you can.’ I knew skiing was risky. I also know life. You have to live it,” she said.

Visitation will be from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Horan & McConaty Funeral Home, 7577 W. 80th Ave. in Arvada, Colo., followed by a funeral service.

Memorial donations for his family can be made to the Christopher Norris Memorial Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank.

Contributing: AP, Steve Metsch, Mike Deacon