SOUTH PORTLAND — George A. Norton III, 85, died Oct. 11 in his sleep.

Born in Portland on Jan. 19, 1924, he was the son of George A. Norton Jr. and Ethel L. O’Donnell.

In 1942 he graduated from South Portland High School.

During World War II he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, flying B-24s as a tail gunner in the Pacific Theater.

His career was spent in the automobile sales industry, working for 45 years at Henley Kimball car dealership and later for Rowe Ford.

He was an active member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Hiram Lodge 180, The Scottish Rites and 32 Degree Mason, the Commandry and the Kora Temple Shrine.

He enjoyed patriotic parades and events, visiting with friends and neighbors, volunteering for CHIPS and attending small group ministry at the First Evangelical Free Church in Westbrook.

Family will remember him as a wonderful, caring father who was always willing to help and as someone who enjoyed a practical joke.

His wife of 50 years, Barbara Dunn Norton, died in 1998 and a son, Jeffrey A. Norton, in 1996.

Surviving are two daughters, Nan Jane and her husband Gerald Mitton of Windham, Joyce and her husband Charles Kennedy of Cape Elizabeth; daughter-in-law, Evelyn Norton of Southport Island; a brother, Robert Norton and a sister, Helen Howland and her husband Stan, all of South Portland; five grandchildren, Melody Mitton, Jacob Norton, Kristen Norton, Kristopher Kennedy and Matthew Kennedy; and two great-grandchildren, Tailor Jordan and Landon Norton.

Contributions may be made to the charity of choice.

Memorial services were held last week.

Arrangements are by Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Road, South Portland.

Norton