Norman Spring: A Great Friend Of Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School

It was with great sadness that I heard of the passing of Norman Spring of Rehoboth. During better times, friends and family would gather to share memories and console one another, making our loss easier to bear. But due to the pandemic, many of us are sitting at home remembering Norm in our own personal ways.

It is well known that when Norman Spring worked for the Rehoboth Cable Television Commission, he was a tireless servant of public interests. Many of us remember that there was rarely a town or civic event that was not videotaped by Norman so that townspeople could enjoy viewing those events on local cable television.

However, it is probably not well known that Norman played a crucial role in the support of the TV/Video Production program at the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School. In fact, it could be said that he actually saved the program at a time when it almost closed due to lack of funding.

As a teacher at the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, I had run the school TV/Video Production program for about ten years. Then one day, Norman popped in as he often did to just ask how things were going. I told him things looked bleak because our six student workstations were all reaching end of life. We had a small budget and conducted fund-raising activities to try to keep the studio running, but there was no way we were going to be able to purchase the equipment we needed. I will never forget that when I finished describing our situation Norm simply asked, “what do you need”? I told him we needed six complete workstations.

Norm replied that the Rehoboth Cable Commission would purchase three new workstations for the studio, on the condition that the school department would match the gift by purchasing an additional three workstations. Norm knew that the school department was having difficulty with its budget. He wanted to prevent a situation where he might arrange for us to get three workstations, but the school would not be able to follow through with its promise to purchase the other three. Norm was a wise man. He wanted to make sure that the program did not end up with “half a bridge” so to speak.

That summer, six new state-of-the-art workstations arrived. I cannot tell you how happy I was to set up that equipment, and I cannot describe the excitement when students walked into the studio that September. The support from the Rehoboth Cable Commission, and in particular Norm, opened a new chapter for “Falcon Studio” at D-R.

When I would run into Norm as years passed, I would always make a point to thank him again for helping us. But I am just one of many people who thanked him for his devotion to the community. I am sure there are numerous people and numerous stories like this.

I will never forget Norm.

My sincere condolences to the Spring family.
Fred Hallal, Ed.D.