Christel R. Bruene

Christel Renate Bruene, nee Bachmann, aged 91, died January, 27th, 2025. Born in Dusseldorf,
Germany, before the onset of WW2, she was so small they had to keep her in the oven for
warmth. She often lamented her lack of height, but her personality and sense of style lent her a
different sort of stature.
After surviving the war, living by turns in a Pomeranian mansion, a train car, and abandoned
barracks, she took the SS United States voyage to America, immigrating to Milwaulkee, and
then to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hugo Bruene followed her over a year later and they
married. Their daughter Kay was born in Cheltenham.
Christel worked in factories, restaurants, and finally a clothing outlet store called The Villager.
She loved this job. Her knowledge of fabric, design, color, and layout combined with a great
desire to make everything around her both orderly and beautiful.
This desire extended to her homes and her favorite was a Greene Street house in Germantown,
stone and wood floors, fireplaces, and roses trailing the outside wall. She threw massive
Christmas parties with found-family and friends. She loved glassware and candles, entertaining
and being entertained.
You could find her at the bar at Le Champignon on Lombard Street, dipping a buttery croissant
into a cup of coffee, listening to Julio Iglesias.
You could find her at the Raven in New Hope, before it became a parking lot, having 1.5 glasses
of Prosecco, laughing with friends, talking jewelry and fashion and bits from famous biographies
she was reading.
She fed every animal she could.
She lived determined, and obstinate, and with a real appetite for shared experiences.
She will be missed by her daughter, Kay Sassani, nee Bruene, and her granddaughter, Krista
Sassani; her extended family and friends. And by those who heard her stories of life, war, love, loss, and the beautiful things that anchored her to this world.
Funeral services for Christel Bruene will be held privately, at the request of the family.