In Remembrance - Obituaries

In Remembrance - Obituaries http://remembrance.hellmund.net/home/ Thu, 21 Sep 2017 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 Edda Henny Hellmund (Westphal) Edda Hellmund Henny Westphal Edda Wed, 03 May 1939 Thu, 23 Apr 2015 Thu, 18 Jun 2015 http://remembrance.hellmund.net/wp-content/uploads/cache/1983-Dec-Edda-Klaus3-2z56pmt5v4iwwgyvfmczcw.jpeg http://remembrance.hellmund.net/home/?id=2 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 08:38:04 http://remembrance.hellmund.net/home/?id=2 Continue reading →]]>

circa 1940[/caption] Edda was born on May 3, 1939, in Merseburg, Germany. Edda was the daughter of Henny Antonie Petrick and Karl-Heinz Westphal. She was the oldest of four surviving children, followed by Wilfried, Heidi and much later Michael. She grew up in the Eastern part of Germany, which would become occupied by the Russians after World War II. It was a difficult time in Germany, especially in the East. The family sensed that East Germany was not where they wanted to be, and was looking to the West for a better life. The family had to separate in order to make it to the West safely. Karl-Heinz left first due to some editorial comments he had written in the local paper. Henny left

later, however she had stated “I only have two hands” and took Heidi and Wilfried with her, the two youngest children at the time. Edda was the last to leave and was placed on a Red Cross train to West Germany via Czechoslovakia.

Edda was living in Solingen, Germany when she first met Klaus Hellmund. Klaus and his mother had previously emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1953. Klaus joined the United States Air Force in August 1954, his first assignment was to Wiesbaden, Germany. Edda’s friend Ellen was Klaus’ sister, and on a visit to Ellen's, Klaus met Edda. By the end of that first visit, Klaus had stated “I’m going to marry that girl”, Edda however thought he was crazy for saying that. [caption id="attachment_61" align="alignright" width="150"]

1957 - Klaus[/caption] Edda was not yet 18 when she met Klaus in September 1956, and her father insisted that she wait until she was 18 to be married. Thus, promptly on May 4, 1957, one day after her 18th birthday, Klaus and Edda were wed. They were the type of couple who seemed to “complete” each other. They proclaimed each other to be soul mates, and everyone who met them could tell how much they loved each other.

Edda and Klaus had three children, Michael (Mike), Sylvia and Alexander (Alex). Mike was born in Nördlingen, Germany while Klaus was still stationed there on his first assignment in 1958. Sylvia was born in Mather AFB, California during the family's second assignment in 1960, and Alex in Zweibrücken AB, Germany during their third assignment in 1965. Edda and Mike became US citizens in November of 1963 while stationed at Mather AFB. The family's fourth and fifth assignments took them to Holloman AFB, New Mexico and Missoula, Montana. The family's sixth assignment was to Ramstein AB, Germany in 1973. Edda returned to work in 1976 working for NATO until Klaus’ last assignment took him to Travis AFB, California in 1982.

While at Travis AFB Edda began working for the Federal Government as a Federal Civil Service employee. When Klaus retired in August 1984 they moved to Colorado, to be close to Mike ending up in Colorado Springs. Edda continued working in Civil Service until her retirement after 15 years of service. Edda was widowed on Jan 23^rd 1991 when Klaus passed away from ALS at their home in Colorado. Edda continued living in Colorado Springs until the summer of 2005 when she decided she had enough of Colorado’s unpredictable weather. She moved to California to be close to her youngest son Alex where she purchased a house in Vacaville, 45 miles from Alex. In 2009 when Alex and his partner Kyle purchased another house 2 miles away from their current townhouse, it was a perfect opportunity for Edda to be closer to family, so she moved to Concord.

In December 2012 Edda moved yet again, this time to live with Alex and Kyle after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer, this was her 15th move! For many years Edda wanted to move in with her son, although her move was under solemn circumstances, her wish was fulfilled. A life saving surgical procedure was performed in June of 2014 that left Edda in a weakened state, she was on the road to recovery after months of family assistance, including help from her daughter in-law Terri, when her only functioning kidney began to fail in December of 2014. After a brief period of Hospice care Edda passed away in her sleep, at home surrounded by her family on April 23, 2015. Her loyal dog Toby, one of her outstanding caregivers Esina, Alex and Kyle, as well as Dean Morra a family friend were present. [caption id="attachment_164" align="alignright" width="150"]

Apr 2015[/caption] Edda was blessed with four grandchildren, Katja, Nicole, Dominique and Damien. She lived to see her first great-grandson Dutch, who visited with mother Nicole, Sylvia and Damien only weeks before Edda’s passing. [caption id="attachment_169" align="alignleft" width="150"]

2015 Having breakfast[/caption] Edda’s Alzheimer’s never progressed to the point that she didn’t remember her family. Dates and who the president was; was something else, but then again how important is that? Although she always did remember that she was NOT going to buy a swimming pool for her son Alex, it was an ongoing joke they had with each other. In honor of Edda’s wishes she was cremated and will be joining Klaus in the San Francisco Bay June 18^th 2015. Edda's 16th and final move to heaven will be accompanied by her family and friends. She had an amazing life, full of stories of times past that will be missed by all who knew her. We wish her farewell on her final move so she can settle in forever with loved ones.

We all know Edda would be glad that this move doesn't involve finding space for her 11 foot Schrank!

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