Arthur Norby and Kathryn Spangler, his wife of 25 years, joined the ranks of SunBird residents in April 2016. They spent the summer selling their Minnesota home and travelling in their motorhome before settling in on East Doral Drive the end of July.
Arthur is a retired Navy veteran, has been a full-time artist and sculptor since 1976, and now considers himself working only part time, although in 2015 he created five large scale bronze sculptures and a monumental stainless steel sculpture for the International Peace Garden located on the international border between North Dakota and Manitoba, Canada.
The Norbys worked side by side operating a total of eight art galleries between 1979 and 2007, in Washington, Minnesota, and finally in Carefree, Arizona. During that time they helped over 150 artists advance their career, as well as creating many collectors for Arthur’s sculpture and paintings. Notably, the city of Mesa, AZ, has four bronzes by Arthur in its Sculpture in the Streets program, and he was the creator of the Minnesota Korean War Veterans Memorial at the Minnesota state capital.
Although they love to travel and have been to France, Italy, England, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and nearly all of the USA, their current travels are limited due to Kathryn’s health considerations. While Kathryn expects to spend many leisure hours at the swimming pool, Arthur says his leisure will be filled by making more art, working to complete his second novel, teaching an art workshop or two and playing lots of golf in between.
Both Arthur and Kathryn have a previous marriage, and although she has no children by birth, she considers Arthur’s four children, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren to be hers as well, a fact that all agree with.