Norm Blaser will always keep Pacelli Catholic Schools close to his heart, but his familiar face won’t be seen around the school quite as often next school year. Pacelli won’t be without a Blaser, though.

Blaser, 69, is retiring as advancement advisor at Pacelli after 44 years of working with the school, and his son, John Blaser, is taking over the position.

“I always dreamed about retiring early and I retired later because I chose to,” Blaser said. “When you’re young, I think, you think about retiring early, but as you get older you enjoy what you’re doing, enjoy the people that you’re with.”

Blaser retired about five years ago and had two years and three summers off before administrators called him in to see if he would like to take the job over once again.

“They offered me the job and told me they needed some help, so I said, ‘Why not?’” he said.

After the first year back, there still wasn’t anyone to replace him in the Advancement Office, so he came up with the idea to train in his son. This last year, a lot of advice has been passed from one generation to the next. Blaser said one necessity of the position is to know and build relationships with people.

“I really believe that you have to know your alumni, you have to know your town, you have to know all these people in order to be successful,” he said.

He also told his son never to burn bridges, because there is no telling what the future will bring.

Blaser started as a teacher at Pacelli and also worked as the principal before moving the the advancement office. He coached volleyball for many years, as his teams won conference and subsection championships and were subsection runner-ups several years. He also refereed high school basketball and football, and he and his wife, Marlene, were both inducted into the Pacelli Hall of Honor. He was also involved in the Booster Club and on the Pacelli Catholic Schools Board, and much more.

“I’ve been a part of everything that the Catholic schools have done,” he said.

Austin City Council member Steve King, a Pacelli trustee, commended Blaser for dedicating most of his life to Catholic education.

“It seems like there isn’t a person that went through Pacelli High School that doesn’t know Norm Blaser,” King said. “He’s very much a face of the school in our community — lives and breathes Shamrocks. He’s given his life to Pacelli High School, no doubt, his whole career.”

Blaser was King’s eighth-grade history teacher at Queen of Angels, and King described Blaser as a great storyteller who remembers many former students, when they graduated, what they did for extracurriculars and what their career field is now.

Blaser recalled a friend telling him he would devote much of his life to Pacelli if he continued to work with them, and while he didn’t believe her at the time, he now looks back and recognizes her words as truth. Yet he has many good memories to carry with him.

Blaser learned a lot during his years at Pacelli: first and foremost, that no family is perfect, and secondly, not to take your children for granted.

“I think as you work with kids, young parents and older parents, you find that we all have that cross to bear,” he said. “We all have problems when dealing with with kids. Raising kids is the greatest thing in the world; raising kids is also difficult.”

He advised parents to enjoy their children while they have them, because they grow up very fast.

Blaser’s last day is July 31, and John takes over Aug. 1. Blaser isn’t completely gone from Pacelli, though. He hopes to check in occasionally and will help out when needed. He said he has enjoyed his time with the district and the students over the years, and he wouldn’t still be at the school if he hadn’t.

Blaser is excited to have more time to spend with his wife, Marlene, who was still working when he retired five years ago. He spent his first three summers of retirement staining the redwood siding of his home, refinishing all the woodwork inside the home, and doing yard work, but with his wife still working it was lonely.

“I found that was OK to do, but when you’re home working alone all day long, you don’t have that companionship that you’re used to,” Blaser said. “We’re going to be married 45 years this year, and without a doubt we are best friends. So we go places together; we do things together.”

Blaser is also excited to spend more time with his two grandchildren now that he is retired. The couple plans to go to Alaska this year and Florida early next year — but only for vacations.

“We can’t even begin to think about packing up and leaving,” Blaser said.

The couple has built many relationships over the years, as Blaser estimated having taught more than 3,000 students in his years at Pacelli. The couple also owned Quiznos for about 10 years, but they closed it to retire.

“We know so many people in Austin,” he said.