Barbara Eunice Strassberger

Barbara Eunice (Knudten) Strassberger of Washington, D.C., beloved wife, mother, and grandmother passed away on August 19, 2013. She had a life filled with enjoyment from singing in church and choral groups, crocheting afghans for her children and grandchildren, and raising flowers in her garden. Always one to take on a new challenge, she volunteered with the American Red Cross for 21 years in various roles, and learned Braille in order to transcribe books for the blind.

Born on November 17, 1925 in Karuizawa, Japan, where her parents were Lutheran missionaries, she spent most of her childhood growing up in Nagoya and Tokyo before returning to the United States in 1941. She went on to pursue college studies, graduating from Wittenburg College in 1947. She joined the Women’s Army Corps and attended the Army Language School where she mastered Japanese, a language she learned as a child. In 1951, she was assigned as a Criminal Investigations Officer in Yokohama, Japan, as a First Lieutenant assigned to the Japan Procurement Agency in direct support to the Korean War. She resigned her commission when she married Arunah Strassberger in 1953.

Over the sixty years of their marriage, they lived in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland; Dachau, Germany; Bowie, Maryland; and Melbourne, Florida, before they moved to Knollwood Military Retirement Residence, Washington, D.C., in 2002.

She was 87 years old and is survived by her eight children, eighteen grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. Her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Arunah A. Strassberger, preceded her in death six months earlier on February 21st. She will be buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.