From the seaport town of Bremerhaven, Germany, where her life and love of the sea began on July 5, 1939, to the harbor town of Anacortes, WA, where her life on this earth ended on June 24, 2022, Renate Ida Trapkowski’s life was an American success story.
Renate was preceded in death by her husband Horst Helmut Trapkowski of Kalkberg, Germany, her parents Wilhelm and Elise Paschen of Germany, her brothers Burchard Paschen and Wilfred Paschen of Germany.
As a child, Renate experienced and suffered through the tragedies and horrors of WW II. Her creativity emerged during those life changing moments — writing poems, inventing plays with the neighbor kids, unraveling sweaters to knit new ones and learning to play accordion. She had no choice but to grow up fast, be brave and quickly learn how to persevere through some of the most challenging of times — living as a little girl in war torn Germany. Her “can do” spirit gave her the strength to work through every obstacle that life presented.
After emigrating to the US in 1963, she married Horst. Not speaking the English language, Renate had a strong desire to Americanize, with the help of Horst. By the mid-1960s she joined the Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) in Cincinnati, Ohio as a secretary, where she was later promoted to chief secretary.
She worked her way up to a position in the Professional and Regulatory Services Division at Ivorydale Technical Center, reporting as secretary to Associate Director E. Royce Wilson, where she remained for several years. Renate eventually became an interpreter for P&G, interpreting German, French and English.
After some time, Renate’s expertise in Import/Export affairs for P&G’s global supply chains was recognized, and she worked in this area until her retirement in July, 1994 after a 30-year career at P&G.
Afterward and with her love of the sea tugging at her, she and Horst headed out west to Camano Island, WA, where she pursued her passion for painting. Her artistic ability and interest were piqued in the 1970’s in a more formal way when she took painting lessons from noted Cincinnati artist and art teacher Ruthe Pearlman. Renate and Ruthe were close friends for years until Ruthe passed away in 2007.
Once Renate had reached Camano Island, she quickly began painting landscapes of the beautiful Washington coastal area and making friends with many artists in the area. One of the artists shared with Renate that she might want to change her painting style to more abstract efforts, because of the coastal area already being awash with landscape painters! Heeding this advice, Renate changed her motif and emphasis to colorful abstract paintings — they became her signature works that she displayed and sold in local galleries.
Art was woven through Renate’s life, and layers of color became layers of friendship, discovery and expression. One layer was her friendship with two artists, Patricia Resseguie a fiber artist, and Marguerite Goff, a ceramic artist, who along with Renate, showed their works together for several years on the Camano Island Studio Tour. From that collaboration came the show ‘Cascadia: Born from Nature’.
In paint and fiber and clay the three artists focused on work reflecting their life in the Pacific Northwest. During 2009 and 2010 their works were shown at four venues, the Anacortes Art Depot, Moses Lake Art Center, Skagit Valley College Gallery, and Everett Community College Gallery.
Another layer, vibrant and rich, commenced in 2007. A conversation about art, life, and community lead to the beginning of ‘The Ladies of the Island’, a group of 10 artists — Kathy Hastings, Liz Hamlin, Indy Behrendt, Susan Cohen Thompson, Jackie Roberts, Janet Hamilton, Lynne Nielsen, Patricia Resseguie, Marguerite Goff, and Renate; women who paint and write, who work in fiber, silver, clay, and wax. They were a community that became a profound part of Renate’s life, with deep bonds of friendship, creativity, support, and great food.
Twice during the last fifteen years, the ‘Ladies of the Island’, presented group shows at the Scott Milo Gallery in Anacortes, WA. The first, ‘Between’ — A Shared Experience’, focused on work that came from conversations about connections between each other about their art, daily lives, frustrations, and inspirations.
The second show, ‘I Am From’, was inspired by writing about their lives in a form, based on the poem ‘Where I’m From’ by George Ella Lyon. Only the trust they had learned from each other made it possible to share deep places of their beginnings. Renate’s poem is touching, beautiful and poignant, taking you on an incredible journey of love, tragedy, fear, devastation, hunger, responsibility and fantasy.
The ‘Ladies of the Island’ continue to gather, and it is with great sadness that they grieve the first death of one of their own.
Renate experimented with paint, color, new materials, and abstraction to find beauty and deep personal expression. Her work is in many collections. She has been in numerous galleries and shows, and was juried into the prestigious international ISEA (International Society of Experimental Artists) shows.
She was loving and caring, without showing “emotions on her sleeve”. She was protective and had a wonderful sense of humor. Renate was a great provider. She was creative, intuitive, and inventive‚ and could easily make something out of nothing. Renate had a big heart for four-legged creatures, especially her beloved cats.
Her fascinating life will continue through her many works, stories and love of life that she shared with her family, friends and colleagues.
In 2016, heart-related health setbacks led to hospitalizations and nearly took her life. But Renate’s “can do” spirit helped her to fight back. Mike Siklosi, a very close friend with whom she worked at P&G, shared the following excerpt from a letter he sent to her in 2016, while she was fighting to get better:
Renate,
“Mary Ann and I continue to think about you every day, and dozens of times a day, at that. I think you can beat this and recover because I think Dr. Connolly would not have led you on if there was really no hope. But, there is another reason I think you can beat this.
You were a very young girl who was in Germany in the worst war that has ever been, and you survived. You were a young girl present in Germany for the reconstruction of a country absolutely leveled by war and privation - a privation you, your mother, your sister and your brothers experienced, and you survived.
You were a young woman who came to America with very little ability to speak the language, who did not know our strange customs, and who had no guarantee of a job. With some help from Horst, but also with your determination, you succeeded probably way more than you ever expected or perhaps even hoped. You did not just survive, you thrived.
Renate, you are an American success story because you wanted to succeed and did what you needed to do to make that success happen. You are tough and resilient - more than you realize - and have so many friends to help you get through this health challenge. So, with all that you still have to live for, for the canvases yet unpainted, for the galleries not yet explored, and the friendships you want to continue, keep planning for the future, and plan on getting better. You are in good hands with the doctors and your friends, as you know...”
Following some difficult treatments, she fought back and was able to resume a more normal life. In 2017, she moved from Camano Island to Anacortes, WA , where for several years, she enjoyed a lovely home with a beautiful water and mountain view.
After her last hospitalization this spring, sensing the end was near, Renate decided the best choice would be to live the remaining days of her life at home, embracing her love and beauty of the sea — longing to be free, to sing, to fly…
Her nephew, Andreas, from Germany, writes — “We still can't believe that our sister, our aunt, a dear person has left us. We will miss her greatly and she will live on in our thoughts. I can still remember each of her visits to Germany and my visits to her in the U.S. I especially remember her homemade fudge, which I loved so much and which she always made for me when I was visiting — She even sent it to Germany once in a while.
Renate emigrated to the USA a long time ago, and yet the contact has always remained and it was a close and regular contact over all these years. Despite the distance, she took part in our lives and we in hers. Her death leaves a painful void and we will always remember the good times we shared with her. I remember so many beautiful and enriching moments with her — a special woman.”
Renate is survived by her son, Mark Trapkowski, her sister, Rita Waldschmidt of Oberursel Ts, Germany, and her nephews — Andreas Waldschmidt of Ingleheim am Rhein, Germany, Frank Waldschmidt of Rödermark, Germany, Oliver Waldschmidt of Oberursel Ts, Germany, and Lars Waldschmidt of Oberursel, Germany.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the following organizations:
ISEA (International Society of Experimental Artists) Contact [email protected]
The NOAH Center (For Animal Help) Contact [email protected]
The SEATTLE SYMPHONY at Benaroya Hall — Contact Donor Relations at [email protected]
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