Ursula Erika Hoehne

On Saturday, May 3rd, my dear mother, Ursula Erika Hoehne, finished things up here on earth, and is now celebrating a life well lived with Jesus, her Savior and King, in a place more wondrous then we can imagine. Her suffering is over, and her faith has become sight! Well done, mom!

During the 93 years of her life, she lived through a debilitating bout with Polio at age 2, which ended up deforming and mangling her feet and making it impossible for her to walk. She endured many painful surgeries that would eventually make it possible for Ursula to walk again.

As a young German woman, Ursula lived through the rise and fall of one of the worlds most nefarious dictators and the horrors of the war that dictator waged upon the world, and she was almost sent to Siberia because of her outspoken disapproval regarding her country’s embrace of this dictator and the direction it was headed.

After the war, she lived through a life-threatening escape with her husband, Kaspar Hans, crossing from East Germany to the free West Germany under gun-fire. During their escape, they were caught by an East German soldier, but Ursula was able to convince the soldier through tears and pleading to let them go, promising this soldier—who also wanted to escape—that they would help him if he ever escaped.

Ursula and her husband realized a long-cherished dream of theirs to come and live in America, and came over in 1956 to establish a new life for themselves in California. It was a struggle to learn a new language and find jobs that would support them in this new life, but they loved every minute of it.

They had me, Ted Hoehne, in 1961, and she would often say that they always dreamed of having a son, and that I was the realization of that dream. They were very good to me.

Ursula would probably say that the most important and significant event that happened in her long and varied life was when she turned it over to Jesus. She did so later in life, and the joy, satisfaction, and fullness she received from that decision was plainly written on her face and imprinted on her life from then on.

We love and admire my mom greatly, and will miss her sorely. But I am confident that we will see her again, and when we do, she’ll give us a tour of Heaven with her new, pain-free body, and we’ll have a hard time keeping up with her. Until then my dearest mother…

Ursula is survived by her only son, Ted Hoehne, together with his wife Therese, and their five children, Rebekah Dundas (John), Morgan, Leah, Cameron, and Caspian. She also leaves behind three great-grandchildren, Abigail, Jack, and Clair Dundas. She also leaves behind her two remaining brothers, Harald Gansert, who lives in California, and Siegfried Gansert, who lives in Germany, as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband of 33 years, Kaspar Hans, and her brother Horst (Sam) Gansert, as well as her parents.

Arrangements under the direction of Rogue Valley Funeral Alternatives, MEDFORD, OR.