Tante Sieglinde du fehlst so sehr. Ich bin so traurig. Ich hab dich so lange nicht mehr gesehen und nun kann und werde ich dich nicht mehr sehen. Ruhe in Frieden!!

We eulogize those we love with positive glowing words.  Kind, thoughtful, generous, loving.  But she was truly all of those words and more.  Kate wrote for her obituary:  "She was an extraordinarily kind and generous person, with a loving heart and ready smile for everyone she met."  That sums it up well.   She was born in Baerwalde, Germany, now Mieszkowice Poland.  In 2012 she wrote a brief history of her childhood, drawing upon other writings from people from Baerwalde who had shared memories of the pastoral town and who also shared the horrors of the second world war.  She wrote of Baerwalde: My father was the principal of the town's middle school. As a very young child, I remember him only from brief home visits, since he was deployed to the Russian front in 1939, at the beginning of World War II. We lived in an upstairs apartment on Richtstrasse 175, just a couple of blocks down from the School. I remember the furniture in our living room, my father's library, where a whole wall was devoted to his beloved books, the bedroom, the guest bedroom, the kitchen...  My sister, Marianne, taught me ice skating on the frozen town lake, and we rode our sleds down the snow covered hills. Coming home to the cozy warmth of our apartment, we unlaced our clammy boots and pressed our frozen hands and feet against the warm tiles of the huge porcelain stove.    Attached is the updated correspondence y favorite memories are the summers we spent at our maternal grand-parents' wonderfully large farm named "Savannah," where we joined my aunts and cousins. We were seven cousins, Helga and Werner, Hans-Georg, Bärbel and Christel, Marianne and me, my sister being the second oldest and I in fourth place. They had horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chicken and geese. In the summer, we were fetched from the railroad station by horse and carriage, and in the winter by a horse-drawn sledge. It was paradise! My mother was also very brave.  Her 2012 history remembers the hardships they faced leaving Baerwalde, miraculously surviving behind enemy lines, being reunited with their father, and struggling to make a life in Stuttgart. Just writing the story for us was an incredible act of bravery.  And once in Texas she provided a wonderful home for me, for which I am eternally grateful.  My mother was always my biggest fan, She always saw the best in me, and though I tried to prove her wrong through most of my teenage years, she was always there for me. I am here now with a wonderful wife, two magnificent daughters, a dream job and surrounded by my mother's dear friends. Further testament to her life. We thought we had more time. But fortuitously these last months with her were filled with conversations into the night, and our last Thanksgiving together, my mother spending many hours cooking with her granddaughters, together with her family was one of the best ever.  We do miss her!

My deepest and most heartfelt condolences are offered to Sieglinde’s entire family. Oh how I loved her! She was such a dear and trusted friend, always gentle and kind, so thoughtful of others. I have treasured her friendship for many years and will miss her greatly. Her soft smile will always be remembered and treasured. My fervent prayer is that the perpetual light of our loving Savior will shine upon her for eternity.  With profound sadness but also with great joy for having known her for so many years,  Lilo Strait

OBITUARY

Sieglinde (Linde) Otto Judson

30 May, 1937 – 27 November, 2021

Porter Loring Mortuary - McCullough

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