While raising her six children, Norrine M. Engelhardt would often stay up late, mending a pair of torn trousers or baking cookies for school lunches the next day. “She was amazing in how much she got done in a day,” said her oldest daughter, Susan Paneitz. “My brother didn’t think she slept, because she’d be up when he went to bed and she’d be up when he got up.” Mrs. Engelhardt, 76, of Naperville, formerly of Addison and former chapter president of the Homemakers Extension Unit, died of heart failure Saturday, Aug. 14, in her home. Born on Chicago’s Northwest Side, Mrs. Engelhardt was in her teens when her family moved to Northlake. After graduating from East Leyden High School, she met and later married her husband of 56 years, John, who died in May. “They started dating after he drove her home from church one Sunday,” said her daughter. Mrs. Engelhardt began raising her family in Chicago, prior to moving to Addison in 1956. In the early 1960s, she joined the Addison chapter of the Homemakers Extension Unit, an educational and social organization for homemakers, which is affiliated with the University of Illinois. “She was immediately drawn to the organization because of all the wonderful women she met,” said her daughter. A few years later, Mrs. Engelhardt became president of her chapter, a position she held for more than a decade. In that role, she helped plan lectures, cooking and gardening demonstrations and picnics. “She not only learned so much about homemaking, but she developed many lifelong friendships,” said her daughter. A Naperville resident since 1998, Mrs. Engelhardt spent her later years lending support and advice to her grown children and enjoying her grandchildren, family members said. In addition to her daughter, survivors include a son, Norman; three other daughters, Laurie Schaefer, Cathy Block and Jodi Brooks; a sister, Estelle Mishewitz; and 16 grandchildren. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Saturday in Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, 801 S. Eola Rd., Aurora.
