A family with Maine ties is mourning the sudden loss of a former Unity resident and his wife, who died within two days of each other in Huntsville, Alabama, leaving six children behind.
Toby Norsworthy, 38, died of a heart attack in his sleep on April 24, just two days after his 40-year-old wife, Jennifer, died of a blood clot. But family members, including Jessi Norsworthy of Thorndike, believe that Toby may have died of a broken heart.
“I know that he was devastated over losing her,” Jessi Norsworthy, his sister, said this week. “And worried about the kids. All of that. In my mind, that’s how I see it — that it broke his heart.”
Toby Norsworthy, a computer programmer who graduated in 1996 from Mount View High School in Thorndike and whose family originally is from Presque Isle, had been looking forward to coming to Maine for his 20th high school reunion this summer. Leslie Clifford Plunkett, a classmate who now lives in Ayer, Massachusetts, said that Toby has been her friend since childhood and that they have always kept in touch.
“He was a very selfless person,” she said. “He always put his community, his church, his family and his kids ahead of himself. He adored each and every one of his children and especially his wife … We had talked about him coming to the reunion. You always think there’s more time than there is.”
Jessi Norsworthy, nine years younger than Toby, said that no matter how old she got, he always looked out for her.
“To me, he’s always been my big brother,” she said. “My brother was amazing.”
Clifford Plunkett said that she had the couple’s six children on her mind when she decided to try to raise $5,000 through the crowdfunding website GoFundMe. Jennifer Norsworthy had three children from a previous marriage, Quinten, 20, Riley, 17, and Bradley, 13. Together, Jennifer and Toby had three children — Mickey, 11, Aurora, 9, and Lainie, 6.
“I just thought [a fundraiser] could help the children,” Clifford Plunkett said. “I’m sure Toby had a life insurance policy. He was smart like that. But six kids — it’s a lot.”
Since she started the fundraising campaign just over a week ago, the Norsworthys’ sad story — and the GoFundMe page to help their children — have gone viral. As of Friday afternoon, more than 1,800 people from all around the world had opened up their hearts and wallets to give nearly $85,000 to the fund.
One person who commented on the GoFundMe page said he was one of the emergency responders who came to both of the calls at the Norsworthy house.
“I’m very grateful for the support being shown to these children who have lost both of their parents,” he wrote. “We did the best we could, but in the end, we were unable to save either parents just 48 hours apart from each other. Thank you for all the support for this family.”
Clifford Plunkett said she has been overwhelmed by the support for the family.
“I know Toby would have done this for anyone of us,” she said. “I’m stunned, I’m appreciative and I’m floored. It’s just amazing how many total strangers are helping and telling their own stories.”
Tami Norsworthy, Toby’s mother, said that both he and Jennifer were big-hearted, very involved with their church community in Alabama and “very much loved.”
“They were very giving,” she said of the couple. “They both had beautiful hearts, and it was all about family.”
She said that Toby called her from the hospital when Jennifer died. She and her husband, Bruce Norsworthy, immediately started driving from Michigan, where they now live, to be with Toby and the children in Huntsville as they grieved. Jessi Norsworthy and her older sister, Tabitha Norsworthy Washburn of Madison, also traveled from Maine to be with the family. Tabitha, Tami and Bruce haven’t left yet, Tami Norsworthy said, and she and her husband don’t plan to leave until arrangements to care for the younger children have all been settled.
“Toby was so devastated. They were just so close,” she said of her son and his wife. “I couldn’t get him to sleep, couldn’t get him to eat.”
Tami Norsworthy said that the family probably will take Toby home to Maine to be buried, although she was not sure yet of the details of where or when. For the moment, she and her husband are staying with the younger children and figuring out what will happen in the future. Family members did not want to discuss where the children might live next, but according to Jessi Norsworthy, the family will work to make sure at least the four younger children remain together. The eldest lives with the family in Huntsville but the 17-year-old stays with his father in California during the school year.
The younger children returned to school on Monday in an effort to get back to some kind of normalcy, Tami Norsworthy said, adding that the money raised in the GoFundMe account will be earmarked for the children.
“It was so heart-touching, that there are still so many people out there that are so giving and so loving,” she said. “It just makes your heart feel warm to know that.”