They found the ashes of Norman Scott Jones in a battered, plastic container up a hill in a patch of ivy alongside the westbound 118 Freeway in Chatsworth.
A label taped to the top said he had been cremated on May 12, 2012 by the Cremation Society of the South Bay, and now here he was more than 10 year later buried in freeway ivy with fast food wrappers, dirty diapers and empty beer cans.
Who was Norman Scott Jones and why was he here? What we know is this: It’s a sad story with a happy ending.
Norman was found on August 8, 2022 by Volunteers Cleaning Communities, a group of local residents who adopted a 3½ mile stretch of the 118 Freeway between Tampa Avenue and Balboa Boulevard, and some adjacent neighborhood streets to keep litter-free.
They spend two hours in the morning, five days a week, picking up the trash of people who treat freeways and public streets like they’re landfills.
“We took Norman back to my house, and began a search for his family,” said the group’s founder Jill Mather, who worked for 45 years as a vice president in training and development for major restaurant chains.
One of the first rules she taught new hires was never walk over debris — pick it up. It was a rule she applied to herself in retirement on her daily three-hour walks during the height of the pandemic.
“I started to notice how bad the litter problem was, and made it my goal to try to change the mindset of littering in America,” she said. Lofty goal, but she’s making headway.
From one woman taking her morning walk with a grabber and trash bag, VCC has grown to more than 200 members doing the same in neighborhoods all over the Valley.
The ashes of Norman Scott Jones safe in Emilie Koster’s car. (Photo courtesy Emilie Koster)
“Too many people look at picking up litter as a form of punishment,” she said. “In high school, when you got detention, you picked up trash.”
Emilie Koster never got detention in high school. She gave Norman a home while the search for his family went on for months.
“My husband was a little skeptical at first, but he got accustomed to Norman being around,” she said. “He sat at the end of our coffee table.”
They watched old movies with Norman and included him in all holiday celebrations, decorating his plastic container. Periodically, Norman would be taken on cleanups and special VCC events, Jill said.
The only real lead they had on Norman was the cremation society, but personal information could only be released to family members — the people they were looking for — so it was a catch-22. After six months, they had hit a dead end.
“My husband saw we were hitting roadblocks so he contacted an LAPD detective he knows to see if he maybe could help,” Emilie said. “I know they are busy, and it wouldn’t be a priority, but a few months later he called back.
“Norman had no family,” she said. “His ashes had been with his best friend who was a house painter, as was Norman. The friend had developed dementia and was at a point where he couldn’t answer any questions about his old friend.
“The detective asked his children if they wanted Norman’s ashes back,” Emilie said. “They said no.”
How he wound up in a patch of ivy at the Reseda Boulevard exit along the westbound 118 Freeway, we’ll never know for sure, but the search was over.
With no family or friends left to find, “we decided to give Norman a final RIP ourselves,” Jill said.
On a brisk, clear Friday in February, with Norman’s VCC family in attendance, Emilie climbed on top of a rock overlooking the Valley, and scattered the ashes of a man she didn’t know.
Whether he was a good man or bad didn’t matter to her. He was a human being, not a piece of trash.
“We chose a location, which shall remain private, where Norman would have a great view of the Valley,” Jill said. “There were a few tears, then we all went to a quaint café for breakfast and a final toast to Norman.”
I must mention the VCC had no permit to scatter Norman’s ashes, and you need one. For more information on the process, the state Department of Consumer Affairs, Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, has a booklet that spells it all out.
For more information on the VCC, including its “Adopt1Street” program and ongoing efforts to change the mindset of litter in America, go to www.VCC.world.
Dennis McCarthy’s column runs on Sunday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com.