Gertrud Anna Smith

Gertrud Smith died on February 4, 2014. She was born in Bremen, Germany to Herman and Erna Lindemeyer on December 1, 1917. In 1939, Gertrud met and married Helmut Martin Kirchhoff, who was a company clerk in the German military. Their daughter, Marion, was born soon after. During World War II, Martin was sent to the Eastern Front and was killed in 1941. Trudy, as she was called, moved with her extended family to the eastern part of Germany to escape the bombing of Bremen. At the end of the war, the family moved back to Bremen to leave Russian-occupied Eastern Germany.

While there, Trudy met an American soldier, Ralph Smith, who was stationed in Bremen. When Ralph was sent back to the United States, mutual friends sponsored a “visit.” She traveled alone to Richmond, VA in 1952. She met Ralph, who was stationed at Camp Peary, during his lunch break and they were married. Gertrud’s daughter, Marion, arrived in the United States the following year and the family lived in Camp Peary until 1972. Gertrud and Ralph moved to First Colony in Williamsburg where she enjoyed gardening, bird watching, and taking care of her grandchildren. Gertrud was preceded in death by her older brother Erich, sister Else, and husband Ralph Smith (1984). Gertrud is survived by her daughter, three grandchildren, and many great and great-great grandchildren. The family asks that condolences be shared with them on this Nelsen Funeral Home-Williamsburg tribute page.