Waltraud “Terry” Emma Walsh, a devoted wife, mother, grandma, and friend passed away June 26, 2024, after complications from a stroke. Terry was born in the village of Frankenwinheim, in the district of Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany, and was a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Terry will be cherished and missed by her husband of 46 years, Joseph Patrick Walsh and her three children, Stephen Robert Gilmore (Aisha), Danna Emma Veatch (Matthew), Kathy Jo Zamora (Dominic). She has three grandchildren: Niles, Evan, Hailey.
Terry is proceeded by death by her adoptive parents Rosaline “Rosa” and Hans Schneider and her sister, Christa.
Terry or “Traudel” her nickname in her youth, always told her mother Rosa that one day she would move “far, far away” from their village in Germany. Although it was an idyllic place to grow up with cobblestoned streets, a quaint town center, surrounded by beautiful landscapes and vast farmlands, she had bigger dreams of coming to America. With fiery red hair and freckles as numerous as the stars under a perfect moonlight, standing just under 5ft her family and friends knew she had bigger dreams and meant business. She was determined to make a better life for herself and children.
In 1977 she met and married Joe, who was stationed in Germany while in the Army, and together they moved to America. Starting their new adventure in Fort Hood, Texas. After Joe retired from the Army, they found their way to North Carolina but quickly moved West to Northern California. Terry drove across the country in record time with Danna and little Kathy buckled in her car seat. Joe and Stephen followed her in the U-Haul. She had recently gotten her driver’s license and could barely see over the steering wheel. With the family in tow, through her bug-splattered windshield she drove across the country appreciating her independence and the possibilities of living the American dream.
While in California, Terry worked hard to become a citizen and gained her citizenship in 1990. She found steady work at Vanier Graphics as a binder, where she was the only woman on the production floor. She would bind heavy books, cut large paper stacks, and package them with the strength of someone twice her size. Her German work ethic followed her everywhere, making all her children’s successes possible. Her coworkers called her a “badass.” The sun and suburban life in Tracy, California suited the family; it embraced them. Terry moved on and worked for JCPenney, in Modesto, California for several years where she was loved by everyone. She found joy in helping people and made friends everywhere she went. She and Joe worked hard to afford a nice home and raise their kids. They lived by the two dictates of the American Dream that Terry always espoused: “Have your own place and don’t come to people with your hands out.” In the spring of 1994, the family made their way to Colorado where she retired in 2015 from JCPenney, with her husband, in Aurora, Colorado.
She spent her retirement alongside her husband drinking her much-loved coffee, looking at the mountains of the front range and traveling across the States and back to her home, Germany. As she aged, she struggled with memory issues but was always upbeat, saying that it was her five to six cups of coffee a day that maintained her health and kept her “figura”—figure. She would laugh at her witty pronouncements but believed them to be true. Having coffee with Terry was perhaps the most intimate thing you could do with her, because that’s when she talked and shared her dreams, told you her secrets and passed on her lessons.
Terry will be remembered for her stunning smile, spectacular freckles, contagious laugh, her witty advice, funny nicknames for friends/family and unwavering love and support. She is now looking out for us in Heaven, undoubtedly with a cup of coffee in one hand, and almost certainly, a beer in the other, gossiping, laughing, reminding us to live in the moment and to be there for each other.
Please join us in celebrating Terry’s wonderful soul Friday, August 9, 2024, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm at Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary & Cemetery, 6601 South Colorado Blvd, Centennial, CO 80121, followed by a reception from 3:00pm to 5:00pm.
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