Obituary of Edith Nousek

Edith H. Nousek, 89, of State College, died Friday, June 13, 2014, at The Fairways at Brookline. Born May 20, 1925, in Asch, Czechoslovakia (now Aš, Czech Republic), she was the daughter of the late Otto and Anna Wahl Hollerung. When Edith was 11 years old, the death of her mother began a long period of great disruption. Following the Munich Agreement 1938, Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland, where she lived. During World War II she was enlisted in national service, working as a hops harvester, a farm cook and a clerk in the Dresden train station. She returned to Asch a few months before the Dresden firebombing which killed at least 25,000 people. Back in Asch, she worked in the mayor's office. As a 'Sudeten' German, however, she was denied Czechoslovak citizenship, and deported to West Germany, where she suffered under harsh conditions in the relocation camp. She found work as a seamstress in Passau, Germany, where she met and married 1LT Frank W. Nousek of the US Army of Occupation on June 19, 1948. That year she moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to join her husband, where she lived for nearly 50 years. She was a full-time homemaker until Frank died on May 24, 1968, and then was a sales assistant at the Higbee Department Store for 19 years. In 1997 she retired in State College where she was active at the Senior Center. Edith greatly enjoyed sharing her passions, travel and food. In youth and retirement she traveled with her friends from Asch, Heddy Schoebel and Traudl Albrecht, across the Alps and around the world including Hawaii, Banff, California, Colorado, and Florida. As a young mother she traveled with her husband and son to Europe and Cedar Point, OH. At Higbee's she took extensive bus trips with Janet Hoke through the eastern US. She was an excellent cook, specializing in Czech and German cuisine. Roast pork and duck, bread and potato dumplings, and an extraordinary Bohemian Tripe Soup were specialties. Her close friends and care-givers, Kelsea and Pam Smith, helped maintain her home in her later years. She is survived by a son, John Nousek and his wife, Mary Margaret, of Boalsburg, and three granddaughters: Lisa M. Nousek of Armonk NY; Anna E. Nousek-McGregor of Cambuskenneth, Scotland; and Katrina L. Nousek of Ithaca, NY. At her request, her ashes will be interred at Highland Park Cemetery, Cleveland, OH, where she will rejoin her husband after 45 years. Memorial contributions may be made to ¬¬¬¬WPSX TV, 100 Innovation Blvd., University Park, 16802. Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home, State College. Online condolences and signing of the guest book may be entered at www.kochfuneralhome.com.