Herta von Müffling Ellerbe
On Thanksgiving Day, 26th of November 2015, Herta von Müffling Ellerbe passed away peacefully with all of her children, their spouses, and three of her grandchildren at her side.
She was born Baroness Adelheid Herta Herlinde von Müffling to Baroness Ernestine Berta Helene Schilling von Müffling and Baron Werner Karl Moritz Ludwig von Müffling on October 28, 1929 in Stralsund, Germany.
Her childhood was profoundly affected by World War II. Prior to the outbreak of war, her father was imprisoned by the Gestapo for speaking out against the Nazi party. At age 10, she was sent for her safety to school in Bad Reichenhall. She had vivid memories of spending long hours in underground catacombs hiding from Allied bombers as they sought Hitler's Eagle's Nest.
During the spring of 1945, she and her family narrowly escaped the approaching Soviet army and struggled during the difficult years after the war.
Throughout her life, she remained deeply grateful to the von Heimendahl family with whom she and her family resided for three years in the late 1940s.
Herta attended school on scholarship and spent a year with the Savory family in Norfolk, England. She went on to study medical technology, working in tuberculosis research at the Goethe University. She also studied French at the University of Geneva.
In 1955, while on holiday in Torremolinos, Spain, she met James Edwin Ellerbe of South Carolina. After Herta and Jim married in Cologne, Germany, they lived in France, Spain, Northern Saudi Arabia, Yugoslavia, Trinidad, New Jersey, and then Eastern Saudi Arabia.
She raised three children, taught French, and worked as a medical technologist.
In 1983, she and Jim moved to a house in Spain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and enjoyed 29 years of retirement together. She was an avid singer in the town of Nerja's Chorale.
After Jim's death in 2012, she moved to Virginia to live close to her youngest daughter and enjoyed frequent visits and trips with her children and grandchildren.
Herta is survived by her children, James Mueffling Ellerbe (Diane) of Findlay, Ohio, Helen Avalon (Andrew) of Orlando, Florida, and Elizabeth Ellerbe Agar (Jim) of Alexandria, Virginia; granddaughters, Daryl Lynne Ellerbe, Amanda Elizabeth Ellerbe, Grace Elizabeth Agar, and Alexandra Genevieve Agar.