Helga Inge

Helga Inge Schomaker Burrell-Sahl Ashkenaze died peacefully Sunday, March 18 at Spanish Oaks Retreat and Hospice in Savannah, GA, of complications related to Alzheimer’s Disease. Helga was born in Bogota, Colombia on November 8, 1940 and raised in Cucuta, Colombia. She came to the United States in the 1960’s to continue advanced language studies at George Washington University. Once Helga began working in the U.S., she chose to make Washington, D.C. (and later, Potomac, MD) her home. Helga was proud to become a United States citizen in America’s Bicentennial year, 1976. Helga’s bilingual (Spanish and German) childhood, secondary education in French-speaking schools, and college language majors (English among them) in Zurich all contributed to her lifelong career as an interpreter and simultaneous translator. For decades the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations, and countless foreign and domestic governmental and private organizations relied upon Helga’s expert verbal and written translation expertise with material that was intricate, complicated, and often classified. In 1974 Helga began working for the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) in Washington, D.C., where she remained until she retired, 20 years later. Helga’s world travels led her to deeply value the unique qualities of people from vastly different cultures, religions, and backgrounds. She was “thinking globally” way ahead of her time. After retiring from INTELSAT, Helga continued accepting free-lance translation assignments, even after she moved to Hilton Head, S.C. in 1997. In the fall of 2004 Helga moved to the Seattle, WA, area, where she lived until last spring, when she came to Spanish Oaks. Helga had an extraordinarily generous and loving heart. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends. Survivors include her stepdaughter, Leslie Burrell-Sahl Nissen (Andreas) of Savannah, stepson Geoffrey Burrell-Sahl of Baltimore, MD, grandson Sam Prevatt of New York, NY, granddaughter Colleen Nissen of Jupiter, FL. Also mourning Helga are Bernard M. Ashkenaze, of Lynnwood, WA, Elizabeth Ashkenaze Richmond of Lake Forest Park, WA, Jonathan Ashkenaze of San Antonio, TX, and a host of friends and loved ones across the country and around the world. Helga was predeceased by her first husband, Jaime Burrell-Sahl of Potomac, Maryland. Helga’s ashes will be interred with Jaime at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, at a later date. A memorial service for Helga will be held Sunday, March 25th at 3:30 p.m. in the Hubert C. Baker Chapel, located at 7415 Hodgson Memorial Drive, Savannah, GA 31406. Please join the family in the chapel catering room for refreshments immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for donations in memory of Helga to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org.) or to the Humane Society of the U.S. (www.humanesociety.org.).