A friendly face and poet at King Soopers

Norman Poff delivers meat counter service with a smile and a side of choice stories at King Soopers.

Castle Pines residents have shopped the King Soopers on Lagae Road since 2002. For years, families see the same faces in the produce department, behind the service desk and pharmacy counter, in the floral department and restocking the shelves. One face behind the meat counter has welcomed shoppers since he started working for parent store The Kroger Co. in 2010: Norman (Norm) Poff. You can find him bundled in long sleeves and a puffy vest as he works in the refrigerated section or out on the floor trading stories with regulars. Norm (80) recently published a collection of heartfelt poetry: Love So Honored, Yet Abused.

Norm grew up in Kenova, West Virginia. He was the eighth of 11 children born into a farming family but his childhood was not full of happy memories. Norm ran away from home twice, once at 13 and the second time at 16. His parents did not attend school past the sixth grade and Norm only attended school through the ninth. Yet when he was in school, he paid close attention to languages, both English and Spanish, doing exceptionally well in both. Norm said he listened so well because, “I fell in love with my first-grade teacher.”

Norm also attributes his success with languages to when he was stationed in Seoul, South Korea. Working as a communications specialist in the United States Army, Norm decoded top secret crypto messaging. A commanding officer wanted to sponsor him to the United States Military Academy but Norm declined as he did not want a military career.

“Book learning is an education; common sense is knowing when to use it,” he added.

After South Korea, Norm visited a sister living in Colorado and fell in love with the state. He moved here and worked multiple jobs: refineries, mining companies, paper mills and a manufacturing company.

Norm was an Exalted Ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Littleton, where he polished his speaking skills and learned how intentional language can be.

Norm’s partner is Maria, who is originally from the Philippines. He has three daughters and one stepdaughter. His eldest is an architectural design manager and she still has the poem her dad wrote hanging on her wall today. “Sweet 16” contains his favorite line about her days as a little girl: “Do you recall when you asked me, ‘Daddy, will you marry me?’”

Norm’s poetry has been featured in Kindle electronic greeting cards, including this ode to Maria: “One day of loving you would be a lifetime, yet a lifetime of loving you would be but a day.”

Norm has no plans to retire from the grocery store, so chances are shoppers will continue to be regaled with his stories and a joke or two.

To learn more about Norm’s book of poetry, visit normanpoff.com.