Norma Mae Pfautsch (nee Bezold)

Norma Mae Pfautsch, a loving wife, caring mother, supportive grandmother, and delighted great-grandmother, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her husband Gene and loving family on September 22, 2026, at the age of 88.

Norma will be remembered as the best wife, Mom, Grandma and friend to all her loved ones. She was an expert seamstress and quilt maker, a creative floral designer, a lifelong learner and an avid traveler.

Norma was born on October 22, 1937, into a family with German heritage in McKittrick, Missouri and spent her childhood on the farm in Rhineland, and in the city of Hermann. Born to loving parents, Alva and Gustave Bezold, she was the baby sister to her older siblings Dorothy and Glen. She attended school in Hermann and graduated from Hermann High School, third in her class! Just one sign of her love for lifelong learning.

Norma set out for the big city of St. Louis following high school. She enjoyed her single days working as a secretary at Laclede Steel and living on The Hill but maintained her family ties by returning for weekends to Hermann to visit her family. During one of these weekends, at a friend’s wedding in Hermann, she met the young man, newly out of the Air Force, who would become her future husband, Gene Pfautsch. Over the following months they became steady dates, often found dancing at The Barn and other dance halls.

On October 18, 1958, the young couple was married and began to forge their marriage that ultimately lasted nearly 68 years. They bought a new home in St. Ann where they enjoyed their early days as newlyweds and then as new parents when their first daughter Laura was born. As Norma built a loving home for the young family, it quickly grew with the arrival of two more daughters, Julie and Chris. Norma supported Gene as a homemaker while he pursued his career at McDonnell Douglas. Norma spent her days sewing clothes for the girls, who could often be found in matching outfits. She also supported Gene’s passion for playing softball as she brought her little girls to play, often in the dirt, at the ball fields where Daddy took the field.

As the young girls grew, Norma supported them in their schooling at St. Kevin’s grade school and their young activities of ballet, girl scouts, and music lessons. Norma participated in the St Kevin’s School PTO and was a girl scout leader, always there to help form the young lives of her girls and the community she supported.

Once all the girls were in school, Norma returned to work, beginning her long career as a floral designer at Flower City, and later The Flower Market, supporting her dear friend’s new business. She involved her girls in her career, sharing her creativity with them in their first jobs as “designer assistants” at Flower City. She instilled her hard-working ethics and her creativity in their young lives.

After 27 years in St. Ann, Gene and Norma moved to a villa on the golf course in Lake St. Louis upon Gene’s retirement. Norma expressed her creativity as she decorated her new home from the ground up and added touches for every holiday and season. They built lifelong memories with their adult children, grandchildren, neighbors, and friends during their 36 years in Lake St. Louis.

Norma was a loving Grandma in so many ways. She and Gene were frequent babysitters when the grandkids were young. Norma sewed clothes and quilts as gifts for the kids. They celebrated birthdays, holidays, first communions, and graduations together. No party was complete without Grandma and Grandpa! They also spent many evenings and weekends cheering on the grandkids whether it was baseball, softball, lacrosse, hockey, basketball or musical performances.

Travel was a passion for Norma and Gene. It began with family road trips across the country to national parks, historical sites, and beaches. During retirement, their travels extended to all fifty states, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and even cruising through the Panama Canal. Norma enjoyed vacation planning almost as much as the travel. They also enhanced their lifelong learning through educational trips for seniors.

After supporting Gene for so many years, the tides turned with the onset of dementia for Norma. Gene lovingly cared for Norma, first at their Lake St. Louis home and in Norma’s final years at a senior living community in Wildwood. Many staff members and residents shared what a sweet woman Norma was and that they would miss her in their community. Even through disease, Norma’s warmth and kindness shone through and impacted those in her life.

Norma and Gene were active parishioners of St. Kevin’s in St. Ann where they raised their family, Immaculate Conception in Dardenne where they enjoyed most of their retirement, and St. Alban Roe in Wildwood during her final years in senior living.

Norma is survived by her beloved husband Gene in their 68th year of marriage. Her legacy as a creative, independent woman, and commitment to family and friends lives on with Gene and Norma’s 3 daughters Laura (Paul) Kramer, Julie (John) Campbell and Chris (Todd) Benben, their 7 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren: Laura’s children Andrew (Carly) Kramer and their son Brooks, and Victoria (Brian) Jacobi; Julie’s children Brian (Lauren) Campbell and their daughter Bernadette, Sean Campbell, and Michelle (Kurt) Campbell Gerteisen; Chris’ children Alex and Owen Benben. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews including LaDonna Ottinger and Larry Bezold.

Services: Please join us for a Memorial Mass to celebrate Norma’s life on Monday September 28, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Alban Roe Catholic Church, 2001 Shepard Road, Wildwood, Missouri 63038. Family visiting and luncheon will follow immediately in the parish hall.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Wings of Hope at 18370 Wings of Hope Blvd, Chesterfield, Missouri 63005 or Rosati-Kain Academy at 4389 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, Missouri 63108.

As a service of the SCHRADER Funeral Home and Crematory, friends may sign the family's on-line guestbook at Schrader.com.