Sigrid (Busch) Heppner, 87

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley.

Sigrid Busch was born in Hohenstein, East Prussia, in 1928, and grew up in the village of Ost Preußen. Her father was the first in the village to drive an automobile. As a teenager, before the war ended and the borders were closed, her father put her on a train westward, where she stayed with friends until the family was able to join her and together they traveled as refugees to what would become West Germany.

She attended nursing school after the war and then immigrated alone to Canada. On arrival, Sigrid was assigned to work as a surgical nurse in Manitoba in return for the ship passage provided by the Canadian government. There she reconnected with Hubert Heppner, a neighborhood boy from her childhood, who had fled with his family before the Russian advance as well and also immigrated to Canada. The Heppner boys used to climb over the back fence to play in the Buschs’ yard.

The sparrow hath found herself a house, and the dove a nest for herself where she may lay her young ones…

Hubert helped Sigrid to pay off her passage, and they married in Toronto in 1954. They both worked, she as a nurse, he, eventually, in tool and dye, as well as apple-picking, shoveling coal and repairing radios. Their first two daughters were born in Canada, after which they immigrated to the United States, to Michigan, then moved to Illinois, and their third daughter was born. They then moved to California, then back to Illinois, then again back to California. Then finally to North Idaho where they lived for the next almost 40 years. They never again saw their childhood home, and often remembered it together.

Sigrid died in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Nov. 17, 2015. She loved flowers and birds, knitting, sewing and crocheting, preparing meals for family and friends, and spending time with them. She was preceded in death by her mother and father, her brothers (one of whom perished in the war), her sister, and by Hubert, who died in the summer of 2010.

Have mercy on us, O God, forgive us our sins, and bring us to life everlasting.

Service will be 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23, 2015, at English Funeral Chapel, 1700 N. Spokane St., Post Falls, Idaho. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to North Idaho Hospice House. Please sign and view Sigrid’s online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.