Allen W. Norton of Oyster Pond in Edgartown died on Dec. 26, 2022. He was 88.

He was the loving and devoted husband of Judith A. Norton for 60 years until her death in 2018, and the father to his children Melissa Norton Vincent, wife of Edward W. Vincent Jr. of Edgartown; the late Mark B. Norton of Edgartown and East Falmouth; and Rachael Norton Boone, wife of Darris Boone of Edgartown and Apex, N.C.

Allen was born on November 26, 1934, at the Oak Bluffs Hospital to the late Mildred E. Luce Norton and Winthrop B. (Sonny) Norton. He was the youngest of their five children and the only son. He was preceded in death by his sisters Natalie, Elaine, Annette, and Wilda.

He lived an Island boy’s life. The family divided their time in the cottage out at “short point” on the waters of Jobs Neck Pond from early spring until late fall, while winters were spent at their home in Edgartown. In the early 1950s the family moved permanently to the homestead that Sonny built on the Oyster Pond shore.

After graduating from Edgartown High School, he joined the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the antisubmarine aircraft carrier U.S.S. Antietam (CVS 36) out of Quonset, R.I. He flew as a radar operator during the Suez Canal Crisis. His last duty station was Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

While on leave in 1956, Allen met the love of his life, Judith Anne. They married in 1958 just before he entered the Naval reserves.

Over the next 60 years, you could find Allen in the “Mullen Way Shop” that his grandfather Frank L. Norton built and which served three generations of Norton Builders and two generations of Norton Architects. He was a general contractor, builder and architect who took great pride in everything he built or had a hand in building. When the Edgartown police department asked him to evacuate his home to a safer place prior to Hurricane Bob’s arrival in 1991, Allen asked them where they wanted him to go. The answer was “the Edgartown School.” Allen answered, “I didn’t build that one, so I am staying right here.” Not a single shingle went missing from his roof.

If you ran into Allen, he probably told you, “Jesus Loves You!” He loved to tell everyone he saw what he himself already knew: that Jesus loved you and he hoped you would know that, too.

He founded and worshiped at Faith Community Church in Edgartown, where he helped to build what he called the “little chapel.” In later years he was a founding member, worshiper and prayer minister at Beacon of Hope Church in Edgartown, where he loved to dance and sing for the Lord. In recent years, he had begun sharing testimonies of how the Lord had changed his life as he hoped it would show others that the same was possible for them.

Allen was a grandfather to 10: Taylor A. Eppers, Chase N. Eppers, Peter N. Vincent, Eve L. Vincent, Katherine H. Vincent, Stephanie M. Priore, Sarah V. Vincent. Justin Boone, Camryn Boone and Morgan Boone. He was also a great-grandfather to 13.

Friends and loved ones are invited to celebrate a life well lived with a service to be held 12 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21 at Chapman, Cole and Gleason in Oak Bluffs, preceded by visiting hours at 11 a.m.. Interment will follow at the New Westside Cemetery in Edgartown.

Memorial donations can be made to Beacon of Hope Church, P.O. Box 2582, Edgartown, MA 02539 or to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation — which honors America’s first responders, veterans and their families — at T2T.org or 2361 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, N.Y. 10306.