User:Nrnowlin/sandbox

Norton R. Nowlin is a professional free-lance litigation paralegal, essayist and socio-political commentarian, poet, and fiction writer. He was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on December 11, 1951, and grew-up in the Dixie Community a few miles west of Tyler, Texas, the largest Texas city between Dallas and Shreveport, Louisiana. Norton graduated from John Tyler High School, in Tyler, Texas in 1970, and studied engineering for one year at Tyler Junior College before enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps in July 1971. Spending six years in the Vietnam-era Marine Corps, he was discharged honorably, in 1977, with the rank of sergeant E-5. Norton returned to East Texas to graduate, in 1980, from The University of Texas at Tyler with a B.A. Degree in psychology and political science. Norton then attended one year of law school at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, in San Diego, California. After leaving law school as a certified California law clerk, Norton worked three years as a paralegal for the Oceanside, California attorney, and pro-tem San Diego County Judge, John Stanton. In 1985, Norton was appointed as a deputy sheriff for San Diego County, California, to work for Sheriff John Francis Duffy. Graduating from the 72nd San Diego County Sheriff's Academy, at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California, Norton spent a good deal of time as a deputy sheriff before deciding to return to graduate school at The University of Texas at Tyler. In 1992, Norton took an M.A. Degree from UT Tyler in political science, psychology, and sociology, and also a Texas teacher certification for secondary school education in composite social studies, government, psychology, and generic special education. Later, Norton accumulated 7 years of teaching experience in the public and private schools in Texas and Washington State. In 2004, Norton took an ABA-approved paralegal certification, with honors, from the Department of Paralegal Studies at Edmonds Community College, in Lynnwood, Washington. In 2006, Norton began working as a paralegal specialist with the Board of Veterans Appeals, in Washington, DC, where he remained for five years before transferring to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), where he now works as a program specialist for the VHA Office of Finance, in Washington, DC. Currently, Norton R. Nowlin resides in Woodbridge, Virginia with his wife Diane C. Nowlin. Norton has three grown children and five grandchildren residing in Texas and California.