Susanne Michels

Susanne Michels, 83, died of complications due to heart disease on Dec. 19, 2012, at the home of her son and daughter-in-law in Tallahassee, Fla.

Born Susanne Muschko on Jan. 17, 1929, in the town of Malthern, in what is now the Republic of Slovakia, she lived her early life in a region inhabited by German dialect-speaking farmers and miners who had settled in the northern Carpathian Mountains beginning in the 13th century. Despite the permanent dislocation from her homeland and internment in a prison camp as a young girl, she survived World War II, and was relocated to what was then East Germany. In 1948, she met her future husband of 60 years, Kurt Michels of Rostock, Germany, with whom she escaped into West Germany in 1951. They were married in the city of Neuss am Rhein on Oct. 25, 1952. The couple immigrated to the United States in 1959, and celebrated the birth of their son, Ralf Michels, in 1960. She and her husband became United States citizens in 1976. They initially resided in Manchester, Conn., for 19 years and then in Plantation, Fla., for a total of 30 years, living in between in Tallahassee 1997-99 and again 2010 to the present.

Susanne loved singing, dancing, cooking, and entertaining, and found great joy in beautiful flowers, art, nature, and laughter. She was devoted to her family and to the many friends she made in life, some reaching back to her childhood. She was an active member of the Zipser Club of Manchester, Conn., the Hartford Saengerbund (Singing Society) in Newington, Conn., and the German-American Society of Hollywood, Fla., performing in numerous musical pageants and holiday celebrations.

She was recently predeceased by her sister, Anna Tinsz, and brother, Michael Muschko, both in Germany; and is survived by her husband, Kurt; son, Ralf (Frances), and granddaughter, Peggy, all of Tallahassee; her sister, Kathi Michels of Manchester, Conn.; niece, Gabriele Michels of Glastonbury, Conn.; half-brothers, Willy and Ernst Muschko of Germany; and many other relatives and friends in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

A service to celebrate her life will be held Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, at 11 a.m. in the chapel of Culley's Meadowwood Funeral Home, 700 Timberlane Road, Tallahasee, Fla. A reception will follow in the Meadowwood Room of the funeral home.

Please sign the guest book at www.culleysmeadowwoodfuneral.com.