Norbert John Peschong was born on February 24, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the fifth child (of six) and second son of Leon H. & Rita (Tracy) Peschong. Being of a devout Catholic family, Norbert attended grade school at St. Therese of the Little Flower Parish in Milwaukee, one year of high school at Marquette University, and three years at Pius XI High School in Milwaukee, where he was a member of the class of 1973. After high school, Norbert attended the Milwaukee Area Technical College to become a tool & die maker. He worked in the tool & die industry for several years before transitioning to general woodworking as a cabinetmaker. He began installing and refinishing hardwood floors in 1977, running his business out of an old cheese factory.

Norbert met his future wife, Angela Sun Hee Chang, in 1995. Norbert’s priest-uncle, Fr. Norbert Tracy, S.J. was a missionary and co-founder of the Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea in the early 1960s. On one particular trip home in the 1990s to visit his family in Milwaukee, Fr. Norbert brought with him his secretary, Miss Angela Chang. On that visit, Norbert and Angela took a liking to one another, and their romance began. They were married in Milwaukee on January 20, 1996 by Fr. Norbert Tracy, S.J.

Norbert felt inspired to move west from Milwaukee in late 1994, and on one particular trip west, he stopped in at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. He immediately felt at home in St. Mary’s church, and in 1995 built a new home in Sleepy Eye. He and Angela moved into the new home on January 22, 1996.

The Catholic faith was very important to Norbert. He had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Rosary, the Brown Scapular, and the Traditional Latin Mass. Norbert became friends with many, many people in Sleepy Eye and the surrounding area through his hardwood flooring installation and refinishing business, which he called “The Joinery”. If it was wood, he could probably fix it. Before his final illness, Norbert passed on his knowledge of hardwood flooring repair and installation to Geoffrey Ferk of Sleepy Eye. Norbert also enjoyed woodcarving, collecting antique woodworking tools, smoking his pipe, playing chess and board games, cats, and in his younger years, bicycling and muscle cars. He will be remembered not only for his good-natured, goofy sense of humor and being a practical joker, but also being dependable.

Norbert is survived by his sisters Kathleen Lange, Joanne Thompson, Rita (Joel) Petersen, and Mary (John) Braunreiter, all of the Milwaukee area. He is also survived by his nine nieces and nephews, Angela’s siblings and her siblings’ children in South Korea, special friend Judy L. Mathiowetz of Sleepy Eye, and his “adopted nieces and nephews” and many other friends from Milwaukee and Sleepy Eye and the surrounding area. He is preceded in death by his parents; his beloved wife Angela in 2008; his older brother Leon F. “Lenny” Peschong in 1978; and his brother-in-law James Lange.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

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