Norma Stewart Winegeart (1923-2012) was born in Haynesville, Louisiana, the daughter of Elmer Eugene Stewart and Mabel McEachern. She enrolled at Centenary College of Louisiana in 1940 and graduated in 1944. While in college, she was a member of the Maroon Jackets and the Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity.

After college, she worked as a secretary at First Methodist Church of Shreveport from 1944 to 1953. In 1953, she married Reverend Jack Stroud Winegeart. The Winegearts served many congregations in Louisiana: Lake Arthur, DeQuincy, Ponchatoula, Haynesville, Horseshoe Drive in Alexandria, DeRidder, Christ United Methodist Church in Shreveport, and Plain Dealing.

Norma Winegeart was especially active in the United Methodist Women (UMW) and its predecessor organizations. She served as UMW conference historian (1979-1982), vice-president (1982-1986), and president (1989-1993). In addition, Winegeart served on the Louisiana United Methodist Church Conference Commission on Archives and History and was chairperson of the task group that published Walter N. Vernon’s Becoming One People: A History of Louisiana Methodism (La: History Task Group, Commission on Archives and History, Louisiana Conference, United Methodist Church, 1987).