After 63 years of marriage, at the age 95, my dear and lovely Hedi passed in her sleep on December 19, 2024, at Providence, Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo California, after suffering a stroke three days earlier, from which she did not regain consciousness. 

 

Hedi was born on February 15, 1929 as Hedwig Kalisch, the 11th of 12 children to Karl and Luise Kalisch, in Gross Jerutten, a village in what was then East Prussia, also known as Masuren, a German province, suddenly isolated in the newly created Poland that resulted at the end of World War 1, as a consequence of the Versailles Treaty. Today, that territory, Masuren, is divided between Russia and Poland.

 

Hedi and her whole family fled westward from East Prussia ahead of the advancing Russian troops near the end of World War 2. Using a horse drawn wagon, in the middle of winter, they left behind their large farm, a Polish POW as caretaker, a large number of farm animals and all their other belongings, forever, after living there many generations. After the war, Hedi, along with her aging parents and some of her surviving siblings settled in the area around Hamburg, in what then became known as West Germany.

 

Hedi studied and worked to become a surgical nurse, a professing she practiced for 40 years. For many post-war years she lived with a Christian Woman’s Order of nuns called Diakonissen, who were in charge of the Hospital where she studied, worked and lived, in Bad Segeberg, West Germany. In every way possible, Hedi supported her parents and siblings during the difficult post-war years. In 1957, Hedi and a few of her coworker nurses decided to relocate to Iceland, for better pay, from there she moved to Canada, about two years later.

 

In the fall of 1960, I met a beautiful and charming woman, named Hedi, at a dance at the German Club in Toronto, Canada.  After overcoming some initial resistance, diminishing during the following weeks, we fell in love, got married in 1961 and had two sons, Norman born in 1962 in Canada, and Karl born in California in 1964. We left Canada in 1964, choosing San Francisco, California, for its warmer climate and where Hedi’s best friend, Marlies Jordan lived. Due to lack of job opportunities for myself, in the San Francisco area, we soon moved to just south of Los Angeles, into a brand new town, Fountain Valley in Orange County.  Seven years later we moved to San Pedro, for work related reasons. 

 

Hedi was always focused on the upbringing of our boys. When they started high school, she resumed her nursing profession at the San Pedro Peninsula Hospital. At age 52 she passed the California RN exam. As a surgical nurse, Hedi spent many hours on emergency call-outs, most of them at night. She was always very dedicated and committed to her profession.

 

In 1965, we bought our first house in Fountain Valley, California, for $23,500.  Seven years later we moved to San Pedro, California, and from there to Rancho Palos Verdes, California into a house Hedi and her real estate friend had decided on. It was a very nice two story house, 750 ft above sea level with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island.

 

In 1984, my job with Southern California Edison was transferred to the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station, near San Clemente, CA. Consequently, we moved to San Clemente, where we built our current home, 40 years ago. For sometime Hedi worked at Providence, then “Little Company of Mary’s Hospital”, in Laguna Beach. Hedi retired at age 63 but agreed to respond to emergency call-outs for nearly one more year. It was while living in our new home, Hedi begun to explore her substantial talent in painting. 

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Her talent became apparent with the first exploratory oil paintings.  Hedi joined a painters group that regularly met in Laguna Beach.  She was dedicated to her art, spent countless hours in her upstairs studio.  Because of some of the unpleasant odors associated with oil paint Hedi switched to watercolor and quickly found her unique expressions in this painting style.  Modest in her self assessment, she was nevertheless persuaded by her painter colleagues to exhibit two of her watercolor paintings at the annual Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival. She quickly sold both paintings and was contacted for additional similar style paintings, pro bono.  Hedi was happy and got a boost in her artistic confidence. However she declined painting for money fearing it would affect her creativity.  

 

During her creative painting period, Hedi produced around 150 paintings, many of which we displayed in our home.  Visiting friends and family marveled at the displays and Hedi in her generosity gifted the paintings, many of which represented some of her best work.  Occasionally, Hedi interrupted her painting marathon and pursued fine stitchery and delicate wood painting along with a flower garden.