Hadwiga Gertrud Maria Rubsamen was born in Munich, Germany on November 25th, 1941 to Irmgard and Konrad Schmid-Meil. She grew up with 7 Siblings. The oldest was Silvia, then Berndi, Wulfram, and Jenny.
The middle child was Hadwiga, then Bernward, Veronika, and little brother Konrad. Berndi was the only one who preceded her in death at the early age of 2 years old.
She was born during a stressful time in history. World War II was going on in full force with a lot of action near where the family lived in Feldkirchen, near the airport in Munich. The siblings grew up scrambling to the bunkers when the airplanes flew over and the bombs followed. When the war ended, Papa discovered that they had been 3 days away from being sent to a concentration camp, simply because of their refusal to heil Hilter.
Hadwiga had a very strong personality and was considered the
"firecracker" of the family. She was always getting in trouble. As she grew up and matured she became such a beautiful woman that her brothers had to help keep the boys away. She went to school to be a decorator/Interior designer and worked at the Rubsamen Department store in Augsburg, Germany. This is where she met Rudi, the owner's son, and they married in 1961. They had three girls together: Gabrielle, Susanne, and Stefanie, in that order. She loved being a mom and dedicated her life to raising her girls. She was unhappy in Germany so she took her girls and moved to Idaho to be close to her sister Veronika who lived on a ranch in the country. This introduced them all to the love of horses and the outdoors. They eventually settled in Seattle, Washington where she worked for over 20 years at Nordstrom ano became one of their top salespeople. Being physically active was a big part of her life. She loved playing tennis, badminton, and rollerblading.
Susanne traveled back to Germany for a visit and stayed with her Auntie Ingrid and Uncle Wulfi where she had some very interesting discussions about the Bible with her Auntie Ingrid, who was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. She returned home excited to learn more about the Bible anc wanted to share it with her mom. Hadwiga was very opposed to this and decided to investigate this newfound faith. After a thorough study of the Bible, she fell in love with all she had learned. As Hadwiga has done with everything in her life she proceeded full steam ahead. Once she discovered the truths in the Bible she was unstoppable. She tried to be tactful in her delivery of her newfound faith but that just was not her personality type. She took the direct approach in all she did. Some people would say she was the boldest, most forthright person they ever met. She dedicated her life to Jehovah God and got baptized on January 23,
1983. This made her the happiest she had ever been. She loved sharing her faith and studying the Bible with others. She and her buddy, Peter Fry, had the pleasure of studying with her older sister, Silvia, and Maggie, an accomplished scientist. After moving to California, she was excited to share Bible truths with her neighbor, Sharon. One by one her daughters got married and Hadwiga was beyond excited absolutely fred being and mari ellen, sho ador, eastia sma • Then, shortly after, Sebastian was
born to susanne and Manuel, followed by sabrina two years later.
Hadwiga decided at this time she wanted to be closer to her grandkids and moved to Fallbrook, California from Bothell, Washington.
When Hadwiga wasn't busy in her ministry work or RBC Kingdom hall construction cleaning, she was spending time with her grandkids. You could say she was their second Mom. The kids, now adults, have the fondest memories of their times with their Oma and getting away with as
much as they could. Some of the kids' fondest memories are spending the night at Oma's casita watching movies and getting tucked into bed. Their Oma would draw different animals on their backs with her fingernails and they would have to guess which animal it was. Oma would constantly tell the kids how much she loved them.
Hadwiga was overjoyed to travel back to Germany last year to see her brother, Bernward, and sister Jenny. She was so excited to go to the meeting and sit next to her brother and now spiritual brother, Wulfi, at the Kingdom Hall for the first time. This last winter she was able to spend lots of time with her youngest brother Koni and his wife Hannelore. The Southern California heat started to affect Hadwiga's health. She had heat-related episodes that sent her to the Emergency Room on three separate occasions. It was evident that these events were taking their toll in some strange ways. It was noticed that her memory was slowly starting to decline. Her good friend Kathy was the first to notice and every year it became more and more evident. During this time, her love for her wonderful God Jehovah never dimmed and she was determined to be at as many meetings as she could.
Many might not have noticed how her illness had taken over because she was most clear-minded and happy when she was at the Kingdom Hall with her brothers and sisters. She always tried to look her very best. Even at her last meeting, she had the presence of mind to go to the back counter and stock up on literature from her grandson Sebastian. In the last week of her life, Hadwiga decided to just lay down and close her eyes. She said she was done and wanted to go to sleep. She was surrounded by so much love, that we felt she heard all our heartfelt expressions of love and goodbyes. We can't wait to see her again soon when she will be in perfect health! We hold on to the promise from Jehovah that he will empty out all the memorial tombs and bring our loved ones back to life! John 5:28,29