She was born on December 4, 1936 to parents Adolf and Veronika Paletschek in the small Czech Republic community of Saint Thoma, which is deep in the Bohemian Forest near the border of Austria. The fourth of five children, she attended school at Friedberg several miles walk from their family forest home and on the Moldau River.
At the end of World War II, when Edith was 9 years old, the family was forced to leave their beloved country home and move to Bavaria in Germany because of the Communist takeover of the Czech Republic government. After finishing her required schooling and business school, she entered the work force in Germany as a secretary in a glass factory. Around 1955 she moved with her family to Munich, Germany where she started working for the United States Air Force. It was there that she met her future husband Garth Willingham who was stationed at the Air Base. After a two year courtship, they were married in 1957 and a year later returned to the United States. Over the course of her husband’s 30 year Air Force career, they had three children and traveled to many assignments in the USA and overseas. After her husband’s retirement from the Air Force, they both went to work for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Germany and remained in that capacity for the next 12 years.
In 1996, Edith and her husband retired to his native state of Texas for permanent retirement. Since 2003, they have resided in Sun City, Georgetown, Texas. Edith enjoyed shopping, HSN QVC, dancing, keeping a clean house, Thomas Kinkaid, pink roses, German heritage, and ice cream. She also enjoyed taking cruises to Alaska and Cozumel. She and her husband were married for 60 years.
She is survived by her children and their spouses, son James Willingham and his wife Lucy of Georgetown TX, daughter Linda Willingham and her husband Jim of Lipan TX, and Christa Ladyko and her husband Gary of Boerne TX. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Daniel Falk, Katrina Blanton, Cole Willingham, and Brooke Newell. Additionally she is survived by her two great-grandchildren, Cohen and Skylar Blanton. She is predeceased by her husband Garth, sisters Traudl and Linde, and brothers, Adi and Walter.
Edith will be laid to rest with her husband at the Central Texas State Veteran’s Cemetery in Killeen, Texas.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18