Maria Johanna Micheel, born Hauschild, was born August 15th, 1933, in the picturesque town of Steinau upper Silesia. She was the second youngest of 5 sisters in a family that included one older brother and one younger ½ brother. Her mother died after the youngest sister was born and her father remarried. She was 11 years old when World War II entered their lives and she and her family emigrated west. The area she grew up in is now part of Poland. She suffered many hardships during that time. She met my father while they were both in their 20’s through mutual friends. They married and had their first blonde haired-freckled daughter, Gabriele. In the early 1960’s her husband, Lutz, had the opportunity to move to America for a kind of exchange program of American and German scientists, with the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio. Gabriele was three years old at that time and their second blonde freckled child, Susan, was born shortly thereafter. While Lutz worked a civil service job at the Air Force Avionics Laboratory for the rest of his career, Maria was a home maker, girls scout volunteer and home tutor to underprivileged children in the neighborhood. Maria created a fine home with a beautiful plant-filled garden in Dayton Ohio. For the holidays they visited Florida, sharing housing with another family that had accepted the same exchange program from Germany. During those visits the family grew to love Florida and eventually bought a condo in Vero Beach, Florida. Initially used just during the holidays, their visits grew longer and longer until Maria lived there full time, avoiding the Midwest winters. Lutz retired. They sold the house in Dayton, sold the condo and bought their house on the Vero Beach barrier island and lived there happily for the next 25 years, taking advantage of living 5 houses from the beach and going for long walks each morning in the healthy salt air. Unfortunately during 2010 Maria started to display memory loss, language problems, and other cognitive impairment, and eventually she was diagnosed with Alzheimer-related dementia. Her family hired many personal care givers to keep her safe and active but eventually her frequent falls indicated that she could no longer live at home without professional care. In 2017 Maria moved into a memory care facility, Brookdale South, Senior Living. She had great care for a few months until a severe respiratory infection which required oxygen-treatment, forced her to move. Luckily her family found an empty bed at Florida Baptist where she resided for two years, receiving the utmost care and love, until she passed from dementia-related complications.
She is survived by her husband Lutz, with 61 years of marriage, and her daughter Susan. Gabriele passed away in 2009 due to complications of ovarian cancer treatment. Maria is remembered as a loving supporting wife, inspirational mother, and treasured friend. There will be a Celebration of Life February 22nd, 2020, in the Vero Beach, FL area and another in Chicago, IL, in the upcoming months. She will be interred next to her daughter Gabriele at the Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago, in the Monument Garden that is close to the Bryn Mawr-Western Avenue entrance. They will reside under towering willows and look out over the picturesque fountain-filled pond.
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