MAY 7, 2009 ISSUE
Our Guardian
High Country Humanitarian, Businessman Norman Cheek Dies at 70
Norman Cheek poses with members of the National Guard in 2006. Cheek died last week at the age of 70, leaving a humanitarian void in the High Country. The angels gained some worthy company last week, but the High Country is still in mourning over the loss of Norman Cheek, the local philanthropist and long-time owner of Toyota of Boone who passed away on Wednesday, April 29, at the age of 70 from a respiratory ailment.
Cheek is best known as “The Little Dealer with the Big Heart”—a name he earned since purchasing his Toyota franchise in 1979. By the early 1980s, Cheek’s reputation as a get-it-done fundraiser almost superseded his knack for selling cars.
From supporting local troops in Vietnam, the Gulf War and Iraq, to helping a young man purchase a kidney machine so he could live out his last days with his family, from eradicating teen driving accidents by hosting Project Graduation for 20 years, to stepping up when victims of Hurricane Katrina needed help, Cheek set an example of humanitarianism that could even make angels jealous.
You would be hard-pressed to find a soldier in the 1450th or 1451st transportation companies who doesn’t know Cheek’s name. He was the man who bought them radios for their trucks when the government didn’t supply them; the man who took soldiers to Wal-Mart and told them to pick out whatever they needed for their entire battalion; the man who sent more than $10,000 in phone cards to troops so that they could call home; the man who welcomed each company home with flying colors and sent them off with equally-dazzling fanfare; the man who collected trucks full of food, games and supplies, packed them into individual boxes, and then sent them to Iraq so that each soldier could have their own gift; and the man who was invited to lead the troops—every time—back into their respective hometowns as the head of the convoy.
After being touched by the death of three local teens killed on graduation night 21 years ago, Cheek started Project Graduation as an alcohol- and drug-free high school graduation night celebration. Over the past two decades of Project Graduation, Cheek raised well over $500,000, raffled off 20 vehicles and kept thousands of students in Watauga, Ashe and Caldwell counties safe, secure and having fun on one of the most dangerous drunk-driving nights of the year.
“We haven’t had one accident since this started,” said Cheek in 2006, who kept the High Country accident-free on graduation night during his last years hosting the fundraiser.
Cheek’s dedication to High Country youth did not stop with troop support and Project Graduation. Cheek was deeply involved with Christmas for Kids and Toys for Tots programs and was also instrumental in developing the auto technology building at Mayland Technical College and the sports facilities at Watauga High School.
Cheek’s philanthropic efforts did not go unnoticed throughout his life. In June 2004, the Watauga County Board of Education presented Cheek with a Friend of Education award for his fundraising efforts, and in 2005 Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5) declared June 15 as “Norman Cheek Day.” Cheek was also awarded the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Above and Beyond Award, the ESGR Gold Apple Award, the ESGR Four Seals Award, the Governor’s Award in 1994 and 1999, the President’s Award from 2004 to 2007 and numerous service awards from Toyota and Johnson Cook Ford. The National Guard recognized Cheek with the Minuteman Award, and the National Republican Congressional Committee honored Cheek with the Outstanding Meritorious Service Award.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Norman Cheek Project Graduation Memorial Fund, or to the Norman Cheek National Guard Memorial Fund, both in care of Donna Bare, 671 Bare Ridge Road, West Jefferson, N.C. 28694; or to the Old Gap Creek Cemetery Fund, in care of Carolyn Pierce, 303 Highway 194 South, West Jefferson, N.C. 28694. To send online condolences, click to www.hamptonfuneralservice.com.
Services were conducted on Sunday, May 3, at Laurel Springs Baptist Church, and military graveside rites and burial followed in Old Fields Church Cemetery.
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