- Date Of Death: October 6, 2019
- State: Illinois
Gertraud was born on the 22nd of November, 1928, in Mankuslauken, Memelland (East Prussia). She was a farmer’s daughter, the third youngest of nine children.
Under evacuation orders near the end of World War II, in October of 1944, Gertraud’s family packed a few belongings in a wagon and left their home forever as the Russian army advanced into the region. The family then lived in Oberfrohna (East Germany) where they retreated to the basement as bombs were dropped overhead. When the war ended in 1945, this area was included in Russian occupation zone. Sixteen year old Gertraud and her older sister left the family to head west for fear of Russian soldiers. They hitched a ride with soldiers in a convoy, but in separate vehicles; these, unbeknownst to them, had different destinations. When she arrived in Dachau, Gertraud could not find her sister. All alone she found a place to live and an office job in Munich.
Two years later, Gertraud moved to Braunschweig to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a nurse. After three years she passed the examination and became a nurse in November 1950. On her birthday in 1953 she became engaged to a Christian man: Otto Weber.
In 1955, the family emigrated to the USA because times were very hard for a tailor in post-war Germany. They boarded a military ship which took them to the United States. There they first lived in Peoria, where Gertraud learned English and took work in a hospital as a graduate nurse.
In January 1958, the family moved to Chicago. There Gertraud passed the exam to become a Registered Nurse. In 1961 Joe was born and in 1963 David was born. In the autumn of 1962 the family bought their first home. Throughout this time, Gertraud worked as an RN at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital, a forerunner of Lutheran General in Park Ridge.
In late 1973, Otto Weber was diagnosed with leukemia. He put his affairs in order and died on 19 July 1976. Now Gertraud was a single working mother raising 2 teenaged sons. Her daughter had left to attend graduate school in Idaho. All three children were successful in their chosen careers.
In 1993, Gertraud retired from Christ Hospital after a total of 43 years of nursing. She had been a floor nurse, an emergency room nurse, and an obgyn nurse. She ended her career as a highly respected IV therapy nurse.
Throughout her life, her belief in God and faith in Jesus Christ was her guiding light. She lived her life according to Christian principles. In life, as in death, she put her trust in Christ’s blood that was shed for our sins and in the promise of eternal life for those who believe in Him.
Gertraud was predeceased in death by her husband Otto Weber and is survived by her three children and their spouses: Sonja (Lee) Weber-Templeman (Cottage Grove, OR), Joe (Sonia) Weber (Park Ridge, IL), David (Mei) Weber (Niles, IL). She is also survived by several grandchildren: Danielle Weber (Doral, FL), Jonathan (Rachel) Weber (Chicago, IL), Kristen Weber (Park Ridge, IL), Evan Weber (Niles, IL), and Darin Weber (Niles, IL). Of her 9 siblings, only her youngest sister, Frieda Kellinghaus, survives, living with her family in western Germany.
