By 1976 Norman had been working as a civil engineer in Salem, Oregon, for five years — surveying and design work with the city, later plan review. When he sat for the Professional Engineer licensing exam, the written test covered general engineering across disciplines, but the civil section was entirely familiar ground.

The exam ran in two four-hour sessions. Norman finished the morning session in about three hours and went to lunch early. He came back and finished the afternoon in two. “I was just — I mean, it was a piece of cake. I just thought, like, really?” He had been doing the work. The questions were things he’d already solved on the job.

He passed on the first attempt.

The license was more than a credential. It opened the door to working independently. Two years later, in 1978, Norman started Herk Engineering out of an office in a Salem building owned by an architect named Pete Malene. He also partnered with a former city colleague on G&H Surveying to complete a full topographic survey of Willamette University’s campus — a job that Norman drafted and his partner computed, done in the evenings and on weekends.

Kevin was born on May 24, 1976, the same year Norman passed the exam — their third child, after Lisa (October 1970, Pocatello) and Paul (1973, Salem).