Norris Fleming Pratt

Norris Fleming Pratt, a devoted husband, father, grandfather, Navy veteran, accomplished sales executive, craftsman, storyteller, and lifelong lover of old cars, passed away on July 24, 2026, in Dallas, Texas. He was 85.

Norris was born on October 18, 1940, in Orange, California, to Robert Morton Pratt and Diana Huffman Pratt. The oldest of four boys, he grew up in the close-knit San Pascual area of Highland Park in Los Angeles with his brothers Bobby, Ken, and Jeff.

Norris's lifelong love affair with automobiles began early. One of his favorite stories was about seeing a 1933 Ford 3-window coupe parked outside the See's Candy store on North Figueroa Street in Los Angeles in 1948. Eight-year-old Norris told the owner, Bob Monaghan, “Mister, someday I'm gonna buy this car.” Decades later, he did exactly that, buying the same Ford from Monaghan and beginning a friendship between the two men that lasted for years.

Norris was also a gifted athlete. He graduated from Franklin High School in 1958 after earning five varsity letters and All-League honors during both of his varsity football seasons. His athletic ability earned him a football scholarship to Fresno State College and also gave him the nickname “Froggie,” earned because teammates thought he looked like a frog jumping through the tires during football drills. After returning to Los Angeles, he earned an Associate of Arts degree from Glendale College and continued his studies in business administration at California State University, Los Angeles.

A member of the U.S. Naval Reserve beginning in 1963, Norris entered active duty in August 1967 and served during the Vietnam War aboard the USS Bennington. Because of the high-level security clearance he had obtained while working for Aerojet Corporation, he was assigned to the ship's air squadron and entrusted with classified material.

Before leaving for active duty, Norris married Selina “Betty” Findlay on July 1, 1967. Their story, however, had begun years earlier in San Pascual, where both had grown up. Norris remembered noticing the younger Betty riding her purple bicycle through the neighborhood while he worked on his old cars. Years later, after Norris's father, a real estate agent, helped Betty's parents buy a home, Betty's mother baked him a cake as a thank-you and sent Betty to the Pratt home to deliver it. Norris answered the door, canceled the date he already had planned for that evening, and took Betty to the North Woods Inn in San Gabriel for dinner. She would remain, as Norris often called her, “the love of my life” for the next 59 years.

Norris began his professional life in chemistry before discovering that his real gift was working with people. After moving into sales, he joined Fleischmann's Yeast in 1976 as an Assistant Regional Manager and spent nearly 26 years with the company, ultimately becoming Vice President of Sales. He later joined American Yeast, where he worked until retiring in 2013.

But the role Norris treasured most was family man.

Norris and Betty made their home in South Pasadena, California, for many years, where they raised their only daughter, Elizabeth, before later moving to nearby Pasadena.

He was a loving father who taught Liz many things, including, at age 12, how to drive a stick shift in that same treasured 1933 Ford. Having grown up surrounded by brothers, Norris had no experience raising girls, but he became the quintessential “girl dad.” He never suggested there was anything Liz couldn't do simply because she was a girl, and throughout her life he remained her biggest fan.

When Liz married Christopher Gipson, Norris welcomed Chris not simply as a son-in-law but as a son. And when twin granddaughters Emma and Sarah arrived, Norris found two more loves of his life.

In 2007, Norris and Betty left California and moved to Richardson, Texas, to be close to their daughter, son-in-law, and new granddaughters. As “Baba,” Norris became an enormous part of Emma and Sarah's everyday lives. He attended school programs, concerts, plays, and volleyball tournaments, picked them up from school—occasionally to great fanfare in one of his vintage cars—and proudly referred to his granddaughters as his “best friends.”

Norris loved old cars, beautiful craftsmanship, good food, good stories, and old friends. He was generous, sentimental, nostalgic, knowledgeable, and unfailingly optimistic. Even during difficult days late in his life, Norris would declare that it was going to be a great day. He was quick to smile, quick to say “I love you,” and never embarrassed to let the people in his life know exactly how much they mattered to him. Those who knew Norris will remember many things: his stories, his cars, his craftsmanship, his remarkable memory, and his ability to make a friend almost anywhere. But most of all, they will remember how deeply he loved the people in his life—and how very sure he made them that they were loved.

Norris was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Diana Pratt, and his brothers Robert Pratt Jr. and Kenneth Pratt. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Selina “Betty” Pratt of Dallas, Texas; daughter Elizabeth Gipson and her husband, Christopher, of Richardson, Texas; granddaughters Emma and Sarah Gipson of Richardson; brother Jeffrey Pratt and his wife, Dana, of Aliso Viejo, California; sister-in-law Andrea Moran of Los Angeles, California; and many beloved nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

A celebration of Norris's life will be held in Southern California.