Emma "Oma" Arendt's Obituary
Emma was born in Budabobritz, a small village in the Northern area near Kiev, then known as the Ukrainian National Republic.
Her family’s livelihood was farming and she learned hard work at a very young age which became a way of life and survival. She learned to milk cows at eight years old and had pigs and chickens for pets, until of course her family needed them for food.
As history shows, when communism and Stalin took over, so did starvation, resulting in the death of some 35 to 55 million souls. Survival became nearly impossible, including watching her father die of starvation when she was thirteen, but thanks to a neighbor that made soup from tree roots and weeds, her family survived the starvation famine two more times.
During WWII Emma worked as an interpreter between the German and Russian soldiers, since she could speak both languages. She also worked on building roads. At age nineteen she was given her first custom pair of shoes by the German soldiers who made a pair of wooden clogs for her.
With her family, she fled from Russia to Poland where she was married to Oswald Arendt. There they lived in a railroad box car for two years. In 1945 toward the end of the war her first daughter was born- Margarete Arendt. Even finding milk for her new baby was a great hardship. Enduring additional hardships they made their way to Germany, settling in Havighorst, Schleswig-Holstein where they resumed farming. In this Village Emma's other two daughters where born at home, Eda and Ingrid Arendt, thru a mid-wife; a common practice at the time.
In 1952, with a sponsorship from the Lutheran Church, Emma’s family immigrated to America. The trip took ten days on a freighter, and the entire family was sea sick the whole way there. They sailed past the grand lady, the Statue of Liberty, on to Ellis Island for processing before settling in the region of Fort Knox, Kentucky to work as farmhands. The work lasted only 3 weeks until the land owners cheated Emma and her husband. They then moved to Lacey, Washington to join Emma’s husband’s parents and family already working on a farm before settling in Tacoma, Washington.
The family joined peace Lutheran Church where the services were conducted in German and also English. Learning English proved to be a very difficult task; but had to be mastered in order to obtain their citizenship, which was their major priority.
Emma was a woman with amazing energy and ambition. She mowed her own lawn well into her 80's in addition to three of her neighbor’s. She also went throughout the neighborhood collecting scrap wood, hauling it home in her son's wagon, which she then spilt and chopped the wood for her wooden stove. She was the hardest worker her family has ever known. Emma's work history consisted of cleaning homes for hire, followed by working at the cannery: Wesley-Crawford and Sons in Tacoma. Emma then went to work for Nalley's in 1965 where she sorted and canned pickles (which proved to be very hard work) and sometimes worked in the potato chip plant, which was somewhat easier on her arthritic fingers caused by pushing pickles into jars.
Emma later joined Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Tacoma, where she enjoyed many friendships, quilting and making old world style soap for charities. Emma loved to bake and was known for her zucchini bread, carrot cake, cookies, pancakes(German and American) and many other desserts. Her ethnic background gave her the knowledge of cooking both Russian and German Traditional dishes. Emma was known to make the best soups known to man.
Her talents also included knitting sweaters and afghans for her children and grandchildren. Emma loved to sew, making her own clothes and clothes for her grand kids. She even made an entire wardrobe for her granddaughter’s Barbie doll. She told us afterwards that she understood why doll clothing cost so much because of the work it takes to make them. She also loved to garden, even growing her own peppermint to make tea and sorrel to make one of her many delicious soups.
Even though Emma had a hard life, she lived it loving GOD with pride, honesty, hard work, and setting examples to those who knew her. She will always be remembered for her forgiving, generous, loving and teasing sense of humor. 95 years are not long enough.
With a broken heart and many tears of sadness we are forced to say "Auf Wiedersehen" to our beloved , cherished and admired mother, grandmother "Oma" and great-grandmother, the matriarch of our family, hero and friend to many.
Waiting to greet her in heaven are her parents Gustav and Albertine Fuhrmann, former husband Oswald Arendt, first born daughter Margarete Arendt, youngest daughter Ingrid Mack, many sisters, brothers and extended family.
Left behind to honor her memory are second born daughter Eda (George) Kammerzell of Puyallup, WA; her only son Rudie Arendt (Tracey Marcrum of Rockport, TX) of Springdale, WA. Grandchildren: Tim Rohrich, Sophia Bancroft, Julie Morris, Tina (Dave Hewson) Rohrich all of Tacoma, WA, Damian Marcrum, Marisa (Sunny) Parker, Emma Arendt all of Wylie, TX; great-grandchildren: Dillon Morris of Sumner, WA, Sarah (Adam) Wooten of Visalia, CA, David Madeiros of Oak Harbor, WA, Nikolas (Camille) Hoge of Killeen, TX; Christian Gabriel Olson of Puyallup, WA, and many extended family across the states, Canada, Germany and of those misplaced throughout Russia.
The family appreciates the wonderful love and care given by Gladys Dinglasan and staff at Jade Park AFH in Lakewood, WA.
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