Denis Locklin Norton

Denis Locklin Norton, 86, of Stanley, Idaho died peacefully on Sunday, August 17, 2025, in Ketchum, Idaho. His wife was by his side.

Denis was born January 1, 1939, in Batavia, New York. He lived and worked on the family homestead in Elba, New York, instilling a lifelong work ethic and passion for the land and its animals. Denis left the homestead to attend the University of Buffalo and received a B.A. in geology in 1960.

His parents loved the western states and Denis did too. He left the East for Butte, Montana to attend the Montana School of Mines. He taught mineralogy, studied ore deposits and worked for the Anaconda Copper Company as a stope miner a mile underground in the Mountain Con Mine from 1960-1961. After Butte he attended the University of California at Riverside and received a PhD in geochemistry in 1964. During this period, he also worked as the Chief Geologist/Surveyor at the Red Devil Mine in Alaska where he determined the mineralogical and structural controls on ore deposition.

Following graduation, Denis moved to Park City, Utah where he served as the Chief Geochemist for Kennecott Exploration Inc. He traveled the world for Kennecott looking for porphyry copper and had many adventures in the outback. Denis held a succession of academic positions including adjunct professor at the University of Utah, and Professor at the University of Arizona. He was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1987. His graduate students were forever indebted to him for his clear teaching, mathematical expertise and ongoing support as they continued their careers.

Denis devoted more than 45 years to the study of hydrothermal systems as they relate to geothermal and mineral resources. He refined theoretical models of magma-hydrothermal processes based on new analytics and discoveries from the Salton Sea resources and also developed new methodologies related to hydrocarbon source rocks. He dedicated the last 25 years of his life to educating students about magma and hydrothermal systems at his School of Thought in Stanley, Idaho.

Denis loved being in the mountains; skiing, hiking, mapping the fractures of the Sawtooth mountains of central Idaho, riding his horses to do field work and sailing on glacial lakes. While living in a wall tent in 1992, Denis and his wife Dana built their dovetailed log home in the Stanley Basin. As a creative and skilled woodworker and blacksmith Denis spent many hours in the timber framed shop he also built. His curiosity and creativity extended to photography, pottery, drawing and thinking. He shared his love of all things with his three daughters, Denise, Deborah and Darlene, teaching them to ski, travel through the mountains, and inspiring their creativity. Denis was a loving partner and he and Dana, an Ecologist, shared many field trips and dinner table conversations discussing the physical, biological and non-physical realms of the earth.

Denis is survived by his partner and wife of 36 years, Dana Perkins of Stanley Idaho, daughters, Denise Norton, Denver, Colorado; Deborah Jickling, Reno, Nevada; Darlene Norton, Heber City, Utah; first wife Helen Huff, Reno Nevada; and granddaughters Sierra and Moriah Jickling. He was preceded in death by his parents, Natalie Ruth Dorf Norton and Locklin Gaylord Norton, and his sister, Candace Norton. He was loved by family, friends and colleagues. Denis will be missed and never forgotten.

Donations in his memory may be made to Palliative and Hospice Care of Wood River and the Heart of Idaho Animal Sanctuary, Challis Idaho.

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