May 24, 1924 – October 16, 2019
Died peacefully at her home in Annapolis, surrounded by family. A native Annapolitan, Louise, nicknamed “Tiny,” was born and raised on a small farm in what was then a rural part of the area. Her father, John, was a plumber and her mother, Louise (Stehle) was a homemaker and mother of seven, (Jack; Mary Ellen (Sr. Perpetua); Rosemarie (Sr. Aurea); Patricia Durner; Elizabeth Gautchier; and Geraldine Littlehales), all of whom predeceased Louise.
She attended St. Mary’s Elementary School and graduated from Annapolis High School, where she excelled in field hockey. She then went to work as a secretary at the newly built Pentagon Building, where she met Steve, the love of her life who predeceased her after thirty-two years of marriage. As part of a patriotic Navy family, Louise used her considerable administrative talents in support of the War in the Pacific by volunteering for duty as administrative aide at Fort Shafter, Honolulu. Among her contributions, she prepared several of the documents that were part of the articles of surrender by the Japanese forces. She used the earnings from her years in Hawaii to help her parents pay off the mortgage of their farm.
After the war, she went back to work at the Pentagon, and soon married Steve. They bought a home in Seat Pleasant, MD and raised five children Donna (Jeff) of Boulder, CO; Steve (Cindy) of Bethesda, MD; Peter (deceased); Lucy Cadwallader (Warren) of Glen Rock, PA; and Mary (Eric, deceased) of Annapolis. In 1972 her husband, an officer with the U.S. Information Service, was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria, where they moved with four of their children for six years. While in Vienna, Louise served as the personal assistant to the American ambassador and, with Steve, surrogate parents to the Marine Guards at the Embassy, who could be frequently found at their home.
The family returned to Annapolis in 1978 to renovate the house in which Louise had grown up, and she went to work as administrative assistant for a delegation of state representatives from Baltimore. After the passing of Steve in 1984 and Peter in 1985, she made the long commute by bus each day to Washington, DC to serve as manager for the office of the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group at the U.S. State Department. A devoted Catholic, Louise was a long-standing parishioner at St. Mary’s Church in Annapolis.
Louise was a true people person, who thrived on the company of others, especially her family. She will be remembered as a joyful, resilient, and loving woman who kept her sense of humor and sweet nature to her final days. In addition to her children, she was deeply loved by her grandchildren Daniel (deceased), Peter, Sarah, and Michael, and a great-grandchild Benjamin.
A Mass of Christian burial will be held at Wednesday October 23, 2019 at 10:30 AM at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Annapolis. In lieu of flowers or other expressions of sympathy, the family requests that donations be made to the Hospice of the Chesapeake.
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