Henderson Newspaper The Gleaner Wrote a very nice article about Norris being presented with the International Brotherhood of Magicians “Order of Merlin Shield Award”.
Norris actually received this award in July 2002.
Norris joined the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) in 1967.
Read the article written by Beth Smith .
On August 24, 2008, Norris & Mary Elizabeth celebrated 50 years of marriage.
The agenda was a alfresco dinner party at their son Nibby’s Water St home. They invited 24 of close friends on Saturday evening August 23, 2008. Then had a reception at the church on Sunday afternoon August 24, 2008 for everyone.
Norris a lifelong magician and has always been involved in magic the weekend is being called "50 Magical Years of Marriage".
One interesting tidbit is that Norris and Mary Elizabeth were married at First Baptist-Henderson and continually have been active members of that church their entire married life. What an accomplishment. We only know of one other couple that can say they have too. Are there others?
Read Nibby’s Blog about the Weekend
Below is the slideshow of pictures from Weekend Celebration
Tell us about your 50th Wedding Celebration event!
The Priest family, from left, Norris, Nibby and Mary Elizabeth were given the Downtown Henderson Project’s “Heart of Henderson” award. Photo by Mike Lawrence
By RON JENKINS, Gleaner correspondent
Friday, January 26, 2007
A family that lives and works in downtown Henderson was honored Thursday as recipient of the Downtown Henderson Project’s "Heart of Henderson" award, marking the first time in in the award’s 13-year history that it has gone to a family.
Norris Priest, his wife Mary Elizabeth and their son Nibby were lauded by presenter Bill Rideout as a family involved in a wide range of "in-depth opportunities" that promote Henderson and its downtown.
The Priest family owns the Vaughn Insurance Agency at 315 N. Main St. and the L&N Bed and Breakfast at 327 N. Main as well as downtown rental property.
"We always like to say we’ve come a long way," Mrs. Priest said, smiling. "Our first home was across the street from where we are now." In a more serious vein, Mrs. Priest told the audience, "You don’t know what a delight it has been" to manage the bed and breakfast, which has attracted visitors to Henderson from afar.
Rideout described the bed and breakfast as "a great public relations vehicle" for Henderson and outlined several civic endeavors by the family, including Nibby Priest’s organizational efforts for the Pickin’ n Pedalin’ biking event related to Bluegrass in the Park, Mrs. Priest’s volunteer role as a swimming instructor for young schoolchildren and Norris Priest’s entertainment contribution as an amateur magician.
"This is a great community to be from," Norris Priest said. "It’s really been good to us. We love you and may God bless you in a special way."
Local pair find themselves caught up in ‘geocaching’
By DONNA B. STINNETT, Features editor
October 5, 2003
On pretty days, Nibby Priest and his 6-year-old nephew River Priest are always up for a little treasure hunting.
Sometimes they find the "treasure." Sometimes the "treasure" comes to them.
Since July, uncle and nephew have participated in the hobby of geocaching, which is basically an adventure game for global positioning system users.
Basically, individuals and organizations in 180 countries have set up their caches — little "treasure chests" of such trinkets as small toys, coins, stamps, trading cards, miniature games and other
inexpensive items — and share the location coordinates on an Internet site.
GPS users then use the coordinates to find a cache, take something and leave something (if they want) and sign a log book
that’s put in the cache.
All the details about both locating and establishing a cache can be found at www.geocaching.com.
Nibby and River set up their own cache in downtown Henderson at the first of July, and two days later the first geocachers located it and left a message.
Since then, nine other treasure hunters have stopped by to sign the log book, including some visitors from New Mexico, who left a plastic roadrunner in the box for good measure.
River, a first-grader at Holy Name School, said it’s a lot of fun to see what messages the people leave and what items are added to their box of goodies.
"He checks it just about every day," Nibby said. Their cache isn’t the only one in Henderson. The geocaching Web site lists two others — one in Newman Park and one in Atkinson Park. Two others that had been listed in Audubon State Park have been removed because the park has been declared off limits to geocaching by the Kentucky Department of Parks.
Park officials are fearful that off-trail activity can damage habitat in state nature preserves. Nibby said geocachers are encouraged to take a plastic bag with them when they’re out hunting to clean up trash while they’re at it.
"Cache in, trash out," he said, quoting the advice. "People who are doing this hobby are educated and environmentally conscious," he added. "They are the type people we want
to attract as tourists."
Plus, he said, it’s a good activity for his young nephew. "It’s a great hobby for kids," he said. "It gets you outside and you have to use your brain to find the cache. You get exercise while you’re doing it and you see things you wouldn’t normally see."
River’s Rail Road Geocache is one of Henderson KY oldest and longest living Geocaches. It is located on the property of L&N Bed and Breakfast.
“ Some might question the soundness of opening a bed and breakfast next to elevated railroad tracks that carry heavy train traffic across the Ohio River. But there have been no sleepless nights for a philosophical Mary Elizabeth Priest: ’If you have a problem and you can’t fix it, you feature it!
So far, only two guests at the L&N Bed and Breakfast that she and husband, Norris, operate at 327 N. Main St. have complained about the passing trains.
Most guests are like Cheryl and Raymond Mackey of Shelbyville, Kentucky. Each August they rent the front upstairs guest room whose blond four-piece bedroom suite was sold in 1939 for $125 by Alles Brothers Furniture, a longtime Henderson merchant.
“We get the full impact of the train,” says Cheryl Mackey. “First you hear it coming, then it gets right by the house and rocks you to sleep.”
The Mackeys are among the thousands of street-rodders (owners of souped up pre-1949 cars) who’ll be at this weekend’s Frog Follies in Evansville.
They found the L&N ($85 a night, including breakfast) several years ago after tiring of what Mackey says are Evansville’s jackedup hotel room rates. He has a ‘37 Chevy coupe, she has
an award-winning 1932 Dodge. “We love that (L&N) to death,” says Cheryl Mackey, referring to the personality of the two-story brick house “ its stained glass transoms, original oak staircase, dining room table with pie-crust trim, sliding pocket doors and claw-foot bathtubs.
Train memorabilia is scattered about, including railroad lanterns atop a refrigerator, a 1969 train calendar, wall prints, old model trains on fireplace mantels and a front door whose locomotive design was specially made by an Evansville stained glass company.
But it was the discovery of L&N doorknobs that gave the Priests a name and theme for their bed and breakfast after they bought the house in 1995.
Built in 1895 by Irish immigrant John O’Byrne, the dwelling was one of many condemned in 1931 to make way for new elevated tracks across the river. At the 11th hour the railroad company decided to use it as a boarding house for its workmen.
The Priests think railroad crews took the home’s elegant brass doorknobs, replacing them with stock L&N stamped doorknobs from the stockpile. “Now, look which one’s worth more,” says Mary Elizabeth Priest.
Because the Priests (married in 1958 and in the insurance business since 1974) live next door, the L&N’s guests are invited over each morning. “We have the most interesting breakfast table in town,” quips Mary Elizabeth.
The Priests look forward to the Frog Follies. “It’s our biggest weekend each year,” says Mary Elizabeth.
During World War II the house was divided into efficiency apartments for wives of Camp Breckenridge soldiers, which made it easier to convert to a bed and breakfast. Guests range from visiting doctors (whose healthy eating habits rub off) to a young Kansas City family who visit relatives here each December and celebrate Christmas at the L&N.
By RICH DAVIS, Courier & Press staff writer © 2001 Evansville Courier
Tell us about your experience staying at the L&N Bed and Breakfast or any bed and breakfast?
A certain Cape Girardeau, Mo., couple are mighty glad this community was founded by Judge Richard Henderson’s Transylvania Company and named for the judge. After all, if the town had any other name, this pair of newly weds would never have considered it for their honeymoon spot and they say that would have been a real loss.
The twosome selected Henderson KY for those first days of their marriage specifically because of its name. They’d never been here and didn’t know the first thing about the city when they spied it on a Kentucky map about a month prior to their May 9 wedding. As the bride recalls, "We knew we wanted to honeymoon in Kentucky, but we didn’t know where. So we pulled out the map and I said, `Oh, my goodness! There’s a town named Henderson!"
They quickly decided this would be their destination.Why is the name so significant to them? Because they are Ron and Michelle Henderson, a young couple who met at Southeast Missouri State University five years ago. This is the first marriage for both of them and, Michelle says, "the ONLY one. "He’s an engineer who is utilities maintenance manager for the university that’s their alma mater, and Michelle currently is concentrating on establishing their home.
She previously worked for Standley Batch Systems, and it was her co-workers there who looked up Henderson on the Internet for her and Ron and provided them with information that included the location of the L&N Bed and Breakfast here.
Then those thoughtful chums went one step further and paid for the first two days of the Hendersons’ honeymoon stay at the inn owned by Norris and Mary Elizabeth Priest. Ron’s co-workers paid for an additional day as a wedding gift. The Hendersons fell in love with Henderson. While they were here, they went on the Downtown Henderson Project’s porch tour, and thought it was delightful.
They first stopped at Bart and Tiffany Sights’ porch, where they related that they had just gotten married.Word spread fast, and at subsequent porch stops Ron and Michelle had people asking, "Are you the honeymooners? "Mike and Meg Farmer, whose porch was also on the historic circuit, wound up giving them a tour of their entire South Main Street home.
The Hendersons say they found that kind of warmth and hospitality in abundance here. Among places they especially enjoyed are the downtown where they walked daily; the riverfront, where they found an unusual piece of driftwood that became a gift for the Priests; First Baptist Church, where they worshiped on Sunday, and several local restaurants.
They noted that one particular barbecue spot "is awesome!" Michelle says if they’d stayed here any longer, "we wouldn’t have wanted to go home at all."
They plan to make a return visit at the end of July to celebrate her 25th birthday. They’ve become a two-person tourism bureau for this community. As Michelle says, "We’re telling everyone they should go to Henderson for at least a weekend."
Wednesday, June 17, 1998 By JUDY JENKINS Gleaner columnist •••Copyright © 1998 The Gleaner