WILMINGTON, Del. Mathilde F. Yaeger, 88, of Wilmington, Del., and St. Petersburg, Fla., passed away peacefully Jan. 6, 2009, in Mars Hill. Born Oct. 3, 1920, in Wiistenrot, Germany, the daughter of Heinrich Dietrich and Karoline Rittinger Dietrich, she was one of 11 children. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1937 to Wilmington, Del. She married the love of her life, Robert W. Yaeger in 1946 and together they shared 50 years of marriage prior to his death in 1996. They set up their home in McDaniel Heights, where they raised their two sons and she resided to the present. In 1976, upon Bob’s retirement, they purchased a home in Florida where they spent the winters making many new friends. Mathilde was a charter member of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Wilmington, Del., and an associate member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Petersburg, Fla. She was the oldest member of Delaware Saengerbund, which she joined in the early 1940s. She volunteered over 3400 hours at VA hospitals in Delaware and Florida, as well as knitting several hundred lap robes for church organizations. She is survived by her sons, Andrew and his wife, Carol, of Westfield and Stephen and his wife, Carolyn, of New Castle, Del.; four grandchildren, Philip of Graz, Austria, Mark and Benjamin of Snowmass, Colo., and Jeffrey and his wife, Michelle; and her great-grandchild, Lucas of Windham. She is also survived by her sisters, Hedwig Wiedemann of Loewenstein, Germany and Erna Schaefer of Wiistenrot, Germany. Services and interment will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 1530 Foulk Road, Wilmington, DE 19803. Arrangements are in care of Duncan-Graves Funeral Home. Condolences may be expressed at www.duncan-graves.com.
MATHILDE F. YAEGER
