Her mother, Frances, played the violin and her father, Eugene, was a baritone singer.
Frances was a full-time homemaker while Eugene worked as manager of the Bacon Shops on Grafton Street.
[3][4] Norton attended the Ena Mary Burke School of Drama and Elocution on Kildare Street, Dublin, where Hollywood star Maureen O'Hara had also trained.
[9] Norton originally planned to become an actor, but her family did not approve and her mother Frances encouraged her to become a teacher.
[3][4] Alumni of the School include:[4][10][11] Norton met her husband Michael J. Cunneen on the Aran Islands in 1965 and they married in 1967.