Hertha Stieber, née Goedecke, grew up protected and loved by her parents and her two older brothers on the family estate in Saxony. She was still very young when this idyllic existence was threatened. Refugees from further east came in their horse-drawn wagons during the bitter last winter of the second World War. Hertha's father used to ride out on his horse and direct them to his estate, where Hertha's mother heated cauldrons of milk for the children and where people and animals could be fed and have a short rest.
A few months later Hertha and her parents themselves were refugees in West Germany, having lost everything. In war-ravaged, starving, post-war Germany refugees were the poorest of the poor. It was a deeply scarring experience, but it did reinforce Hertha's attitude that what counted in life were not material possessions, but human values: friendship, kindness and the will to do the right thing.
While the war lasted, Hertha's parents had welcomed a boy during boarding-school holidays whose parents were in Ireland and who therefore could not go home. Helmut Stieber subsequently became an engineer and worked for the ESB. He brought Hertha and her parents to Ireland, and Hertha never forgot the warm welcome she got here, particularly from the Church of Ireland families in the country. Soon Hertha married John, as he called himself in Ireland, and their union was lifelong and deeply fulfilling. They have three children, Anthony, Christine and Annette.
With the children in school Hertha, whose education had been interrupted by the war, could at last go to college and acquire a BA. In later years she followed this with an MA, graduating together with Annette.
Hertha started teaching German in St Joseph of Cluny. She always had a strong feeling of responsibility for her pupils and made sure they received a sound grounding in grammar. Every year she held a German Evening with little plays. No pupil was left out: each had something to say in German on stage. She also developed an exchange programme with a German school.
The hardest part of her teaching job - but which she forced herself to do with every class - was telling her pupils about her personal experiences of the war and its aftermath. Soon she also co-edited Authentik, a newspaper for language classes, and was active in the German Teachers' Association, of which she served a term as president.
She was a key member of the German Women's Group, always prepared to help, always sorting out small controversies and smoothing ruffled feathers. She was the one who suggested an annual fund-raising event for the MS Care Centre. Remembering how lonely she had felt as a young mother in a foreign country, she founded a group for German-speaking mothers with very young children.
The environment was always very important to Hertha. She encouraged her neighbours to use local shops and services, she preferred home-made presents and cards to bought ones and she continually taught by her example that the cost of an item does not determine its value. She encouraged efforts to clean up beaches and walks, to plant trees. She grew all her own vegetables and her bright and sunny house was full of arrangements of garden flowers. Unlike some environmentalists who care more for their surroundings than their own looks, she was attractively dressed and well groomed. However, what people noticed even more was her bright smile and the clear blue eyes.
Hertha was deeply involved in her local Church. She was a correspondent of the Luxemburg Wort and her other involvements are too many to enumerate here. What her friends will remember her for is her unfailing helpfulness, her consideration of others, the quiet and faithful way she stood by her convictions. Her house was always open for the friend in trouble, and her heart was always open to deal with the problems of others.
What supported her in all this? Her faith, her relationship with her husband, and above everything else her deep love of and pride in her children and grandchildren. Hertha left us peacefully on March 21st, surrounded by her family, as she always wanted to die. We have to come to terms with an irreplaceable loss. I.M.