Norval W. Rindfleisch, 84, most recently of The Hearth in Southbury, CT, died on January 5, 2015 at Candlewood Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center in New Milford, CT. He was married for nearly 60 years to his beloved wife Carol Olson Rindfleisch, who passed away in November 2013. He is survived by his children Mary (Joseph Keneally) of Sherman, CT; Julie (Kevin Granville) of Sussex, NJ; Kate (Tom McGrath) of Drexel Hill, PA; and Joe, of Cambridge, MA. He also leaves loving grandchildren Nora, Jane and Peter Granville and Hannah and Sarah McGrath, brothers Nolan and Greg and their wives, and numerous cousins.

Norv was born in Los Angeles, CA on April 2, 1930, the son of Adolph and Lillian Nolan Rindfleisch, but was raised primarily in South St. Paul, Minnesota, where he attended Cretin High School and started college at the University of Minnesota. A 3 year stint in the Coast Guard followed, with service as a radio operator aboard the USCGC Pontchartrain in the Pacific during the Korean conflict. Based in Long Beach, Norv met Carol on a blind date. They were married in 1954, and Norv resumed his studies at Long Beach City College. The next stop was the University of Chicago, where Norv earned a BA and an MA in English and earned distinction as a Woodrow Wilson Scholar. Preliminary work on a PhD was put aside when Norv received an offer to teach at the Pomfret School in CT, which launched a 30-year prep school teaching career. He served as instructor, dorm master, athletic coach, and advisor and in other capacities at Pomfret until 1968, when he joined the faculty of Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH, from which he retired in 1990. While at Exeter he was named Lewis Perry Professor of the Humanities and became a spokesman for the Academy's signature teaching methods, which he brought to numerous schools around the country as a guest instructor. He served as faculty advisor to the Washington Intern Program and as a member of the onsite faculty for the School Year Abroad program in Rennes, France. He served as a reader for the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs), was a member of the New Hampshire Humanities Council and was active in programs of the National Writing Project in California and New Hampshire. After retirement from Exeter, he taught for several semesters at Harvard College and at South Dakota State University.

Throughout his life, Norv devoted himself to the craft of fiction writing. He published numerous short stories and several novels, in prestigious venues such as Epoch, the Yale Literary Magazine and the Northern New England Review and with Ithaca House Press. His work was recognized with an O. Henry Award (1970), selection for the List of Distinction and Honor Roll in the annual Best American Short Stories publication and as a finalist in the Writer's Digest 12th Annual International Competition (2005). He was proud to have been chosen for inclusion in The Minnesota Experience, an anthology compiled for the Minnesota state centennial, where his work can be found alongside that of fellow native sons F. Scott Fitzgerald and Garrison Keillor.

Norv was an avid golfer, tennis player, hiker and sailor. Sabbatical leaves and vacations often led Norv and the family to beaches up and down the East Coast. Retirement also brought Norv and Carol to South Dakota, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and back to Connecticut, where they settled at Heritage Village in Southbury.

The family extends heartfelt thanks to the staff at The Hearth and at Candlewood Valley Health and Rehabilitation Center for their care of and affection to Norv during his difficult last year following Carol's death.

Memorials: Memorial donations may be sent to the Connecticut Audubon Society at 314 Unquowa Road, Fairfield, CT 06824 or www.ctaudubon.org.

Cemetery: Cemetery Not Applicable

Location: Munson-Lovetere Southbury

Funeral: Sacred Heart Church

Services: A memorial mass will be celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, 910 Main Street South in Southbury at 11: 00 a.m. on Saturday, January 24th; all are welcome.

Visitation: There are no calling hours.