Norma Sue Schmelling

Norma Sue Inman Cude Schreiner Schmelling died on August 7, 2025, after a lifetime battle against convention, boredom, hypocrisy, and old age. She was born August 6, 1944, to Rev. S. Montford and Norma Binford Inman. She was preceded in death by all her family members, most of her ex-husbands and lovers, and numerous cats, dogs, horses, and birds.

She was born in El Campo, Texas and made her first move at the age of five to Freer, Texas. At the age of 12 and against her will, she followed her parents to Houston. From there she moved on to Austin, San Francisco, Salado, Texas, Leavenworth, Kansas, Honolulu, Hawaii, San Antonio, Texas, Bandera, Texas and her last move to Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas. After the last move she said that she hoped her next move would be to the grave with someone else doing the heavy lifting. She got her wish.

Like her husbands, her careers were many and varied. She worked as a secretary to put her first husband through school. After receiving a master’s in political science, she was hired to be the Texas lobbyist for the Equal Rights Amendment. That provided the springboard to other political jobs including fundraising, political campaigns, and lobbying for various interest groups. After marrying her third or fourth husband, depending on how you count them, she began a career in human resources which culminated in being vice-president of employee relations for a Fortune 500 company. She taught political science courses as an adjunct instructor for over 15 years.

At 70, she started a new career as a writer. She wrote columns on her travels for the Hill Country Weekly newspaper. She also published an essay titled “An Old Soul” in the anthology Kid Me Not. She wrote a blog about her many and varied experiences and during the pandemic wrote a memoir, Eight Miles from the Front Gate about being married to Charles Schreiner III and living on the Y.O. Ranch.

Of all her accomplishments, she considers being a good friend as the most important.

She began traveling at the age of 70 after becoming a widow. Most of her trips centered on seeing animals. These trips took her on a classic safari to Kenya and Tanzania, to Japan to see snow monkeys basking in hot springs, to the Arctic Circle to see polar bears and snow foxes, hiking into the forests of Uganda and Rwanda to see mountain gorillas, to Antarctica to see penguins, seals, and whales, and on a horseback trek across the Mongolian steppes. She also went to Paris, on a river cruise of Southern France, on a Mediterranean cruise, a Nile River cruise, and attended a course on the British monarchy at Oxford University.

Her final accomplishment at 70 was meeting the man with whom she had her best relationship and the most fun and laughter, Harold Prasatik. He survives her and will miss her Texas accent and lack of logical thinking.

She wrote this obituary and asks her friends to remember her by donating to their local animal shelter or any other animal-related organization. Her favorite was the Pets Alive group that saves so many animals that would otherwise be euthanized.

In addition to her many cherished roles in life, Norma was a gifted storyteller. Her written work lives on through the many thoughtful and heartfelt stories she published on her Medium blog. We invite you to read and remember her words at https://medium.com/@normaschmelling

Norma’s cremains will be buried in the Prasatik family plot at Davis Greenlawn Cemetery in Rosenberg, Texas, in a private ceremony. A memorial service celebrating Norma’s life is being planned for a later date.

A Celebration of Life is being held at the Menger Hotel, 204 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX 78205, on Sunday, October 5th, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.