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My grandmas obituary

My grandmas obituary

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by: mpjp0907 Active Indicator LED Icon 12 OP 
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 6:47am  
CANTON, ILL. - For Elfriede Anton, 98, life was to be survived and enjoyed. The Austrian-born mother of three, grandmother of 10 and great-grandmother to 11, survived on epic levels. She barely escaped her homeland in the 1930s, forced out by the Nazis, who also claimed her only brother’s life, and spent the World War II years raising a family under attack in England by those same German forces. She eventually came to the United States to work as a nurse, got three college degrees in her late 50s and became a trusted member of her church, the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Austintown. That full life came to an end for the longtime Mahoning Valley resident at 8:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the Graham Hospital in Canton, after suffering a broken arm and ensuing complications. She had been living in Canton, Ill., at the Courtyard Estates assisted living center since 2013. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., Feb. 14, at the Grace Lutheran, 162 S. Raccoon Road. Elfriede was preceded in death by her first husband, Otto Josef Braun, and then later by John Ralph Anton, her second husband. Also preceding her in death are her brother, Kurt Steinberg, and her stepdaughter, Silvia Anton. Elfriede was born on Feb. 12, 1916, in Vienna, Austria, to Adolf and Charlotte (Jellinek) Steinberg. Her parents provided an idyllic and comfortable early life for Elfriede. The Steinberg’s had a home in the city and a garden in the country, where Elfriede acquired her father’s “green thumb” and developed a love for gardening, planting everything from flowers to fruit trees and watching them grow. She fell in love with Otto Joseph Braun, a young Catholic, in Vienna. Otto, a handyman in his spare time, would make sure there was always something to be repaired around the Steinberg home so he could return to visit Elfriede. The two had to continue their relationship in secret when Nazis targeted those Gentiles consorting with Jews. The lovers often met at night, in an area where they could hide their rendezvous if others came around. The situation became so fraught with danger that Otto had to quit his factory job and head to Yugoslavia and eventually then to England. When she was barely out of her teens, she had to rescue her father after he spent months in the Dachau concentration camp. She bartered for her father’s life, going alone to the local Nazi headquarters to ransom him from their control. She was not as lucky with her only and younger brother, Kurt. Not wishing to leave, Kurt was being hidden by friends but was turned in by a Nazi sympathizer in Vienna and was captured. He was sent to a concentration camp and executed for being Jewish. As Nazi power increased, Elfriede had to flee to England to avoid being sent to a concentration camp. In fact, she managed to catch the last train on which Jews could travel freely out of the Nazi-controlled country. While Elfriede made her way to England, where she reunited with Otto, her parents managed to make it to the United States, where they prepared the way for their daughter to eventually join them. She and Otto were married in 1939, and soon started a family. Their two daughters, Shirley and Eileen, were born in England. Otto joined the war effort with the British Army and Elfriede also contributed while raising a family in a war zone. Shortly after one of the girls was born, a German warplane was shot down and crashed behind their home. After the war, the family came to the United States, landing eventually in Peoria, Ill. A son, Michael, was born there in 1954. During her time in Peoria, Elfriede worked as a nurse in the newborn nursery department at St. Francis Hospital. A competent artist, she would decorate the windows of the hospital’s nursery each Christmas, hand-painting life-sized scenes of the nativity. After Otto died in 1960, she married John R. Anton in 1966, in Peoria, and moved with him and son Michael and stepdaughter Silvia Anton to Akron and then to the Youngstown area in 1969. She would spend the next 40 plus years in the Mahoning Valley. During that time, Elfriede was a member of the Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Canfield and then the Grace Lutheran in Austintown, where she was a popular member of many committees, clubs and activities of the church. She was also a frequent visitor to friends and former church members at Shepherd of the Valley nursing home facilities in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. She would also go back to school, to Youngstown State University, where her husband was a professor of geography and her son was a student, and from where she received three degrees in the 1970s. Her children will remember her as an accomplished cook, always having a full meal prepared for them and always gracing them with her prized Sacher torte on their birthdays. In addition to the church and school activities, Elfriede was a dedicated gardener. She would scatter-plant flower bulbs by the hundreds at her Austintown home delighting in the surprise popping up of tulips, daffodils, iris’ and other blooms during the warmer months. She also had an affinity for roses and fruit trees, scolding the squirrels and chipmunks when they would steal her favorite apricots and plums. She was a member of the Red Hat Society in Austintown, the Trinity Lutheran Church in Canton, and enjoyed stamp collecting, gardening, traveling and painting. For many years, she collected salt and pepper shakers from all over. Surviving are her children, Shirley (Bob Anderson) Ernst of Willington, Conn., Eileen (Alan) Weiss of Canton, Michael (Lori) Braun of Fort Myers, Fla.; 10 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; two stepgrandchildren and two stepgreat-grandchildren. Her three children held a small family and friends memorial service for her in Canton the day after she passed because they would not be able to get to Ohio and also felt her Canton friends would appreciate attending that service. Cremation rites have been accorded. Entombment of the ashes will take place at the Green Haven Memorial Gardens in Ohio. - See more at: www.vindy.com/news/t ributes/2015/feb/10/ elfriede-steinberg-b raun-anto/#stha 4951
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Cynthia#1 Active Indicator LED Icon 1
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 6:52am  
How beautiful. Love how the posted all the attributes. Lovely. 4951
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QueenB Active Indicator LED Icon 16
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 7:56am  
What a loving, spirited, strong and brave woman! I wish I had known her. 4951
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Mahm Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 8:46am  
Wow, she lived such a full and blessed life filled with unimaginable challenges. We take so much for granted. Thank you for sharing her beautiful story with us. 4951
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topcat Active Indicator LED Icon 12
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 10:38am  
She had an incredible life. What an amazing woman!  This obituary makes me think about how petty our "problems" are, and how we get stressed out about things that really aren't that big of deal.  Even after her passing, she is an inspiration to me and others.  May her soul rest in eternal peace. She deserves it. 4951
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herron1345 Active Indicator LED Icon 16
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 12:12pm  
@mpjp0907....I literally have goose-bumps, my beautiful friend.........It seems as though you are most blessed to come from such a completely awe-inspiring spirit.........What a truly impressive soul, your grandmother was........You have my most heartfelt sympathy.....   4951
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buffaloglenn Active Indicator LED Icon 11
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 12:19pm  
She seemed a shining example of the toughness, intelligence, and resilience of many from her generation.  Our lives are so easy by comparison, and we often don't appreciate it.  What a life fully lived! 4951
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silly123 Active Indicator LED Icon 13
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 2:39pm  
Removed By Request 4951
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thegoodwife Active Indicator LED Icon 10
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 3:59pm  
@mpjp0907  Don't forget to keep a copy of that. It's amazing what you can forget even though the stories have been told to you your whole life. I regret not saving things like that & recipes and just family papers. Now that that generation in my family is all gone there is no one to ask anymore. 
 
My condolences to you and your family. 4951
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Annie Active Indicator LED Icon 18
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 4:53pm  
I have never read such an endearing obituary. I am sure she will be greatly missed by all that knew her. I would have been proud to have made her acquaintance and heard some of her stories.
 
I hope that someone in your family is keeping a journal of family history. Your family's story is fascinating. 4951
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mpjp0907 Active Indicator LED Icon 12 OP 
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 8:25pm  
I have never read such an endearing obituary. I am sure she will be greatly missed by all that knew her. I would have been proud to have made her acquaintance and heard some of her stories.
 
I hope that someone in your family is keeping a journal of family history. Your family's story is fascinating.
 
@Annie:
 
There's a diary my cousin has...and I've been thinking of writing a book. 4951
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Francita Active Indicator LED Icon 17
~ 9 years ago   Feb 10, '15 8:37pm  
Thank you for sharing this with us. What an inspiring life! 4951
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GoldenGirl Active Indicator LED Icon 15
~ 9 years ago   Feb 11, '15 10:21am  
What full and incredible life she had!!  I would loved to have met her, I bet she had lot's of stories to tell. 4951
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CBP210 Active Indicator LED Icon 10
~ 9 years ago   Feb 11, '15 10:55am  
Thank you for sharing. I know she knows her generation is not forgotten by mine. Like I mentioned to you before I witnessed the atrocities displayed in the Munich concentration camp and cannot imagine people living through that evil. Your Grandmother lived a miraculous life and she is now in a better place. 4951
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