Obituary of Lilo Nikodem-Frangen

Lilo Nikodem-Frangen 11/15/1928- 1/13/17 With great sadness we say goodbye to our beloved mother and Oma who left us unexpectedly. She was a remarkable, generous, and always helpful person who will be missed greatly by all who had the privilege to know her. Giving and loving, she lived for her family, taking great pride in their accomplishments. Lilo was born in Brno, then Czechoslovakia, to a prominent business family. She was eleven when WWII started and seventeen when she set out with her mother, sister and her sister's three small children on a perilous three month march on foot to Germany. They left with only what they could carry, constantly fearing for their lives. Despite all odds, they made it to what would become East Germany. She graduated from Berlin fashion school as a master seamstress and started her own business. As life became ever more restrictive in the communist East, the family decided to once again leave everything they had built over the last 16 years and start over in West Germany. She found employment as the head designer at a clothing firm where she met her future husband, Karl Frangen. Soon after, she opened her own clothing store that she successfully ran for over 25 years. What she achieved by her wits and hard work alone continues to be a source of inspiration for all of us. Lilo was a self-made entrepreneurial woman at a time and place where this was not common, yet she always remained modest and self-effacing. After being widowed and upon her retirement, Lilo decided to uproot a third time and move to Santa Cruz to be close to her family and especially her three grandchildren, who had the privilege of growing up with her as the rock of the family. She attended Santa Cruz Adult School for many years studying English. Her great passion was politics, which she avidly followed through her German news programs and magazines resulting in stimulating dinner table conversations. She will be immensely missed by her daughter Inga and son-in law Tony as well as her three grandchildren, Max, Lara, and Isabella Tromba. We will forever cherish the many happy memories we have of her.