Emmy Vogt

Obituary
EMMY VOGT
ITHACA - Emmy Vogt, 91, passed away peacefully on December 31, 2004. She was born Emmy M.W. Wegener in 1913 in Hamburg, Germany, the daughter of the late Heinrich and Anne Wegener. In 1938, she married Richard Vogt, who was at that time chief designer at Hamburgerflugzeugbau, the aircraft factory of the Blohm and Voss shipyard. Their two sons were born during the turbulent times of World War II. After the war, in 1946, Richard was invited to the U.S. as part of Operation Paperclip, the umbrella under which some 200 German scientists and engineers came to the U.S. to work for the Armed Services. The family followed a year later and lived near Dayton, Ohio, until 1955. They subsequently moved to Santa Barbara, CA, where Richard worked in an aerospace firm until retiring. After his death in 1979, Emmy continued to reside in Santa Barbara until she moved to Kendal of Ithaca in 1999.Emmy was a lifelong follower of the teachings of Rudolph Steiner, the 19th and early 20th century philosopher and founder of Anthroposophy and of the Waldorf School movement. She was deeply committed to the idea of a spiritual world that overarches the material earthly world. It seemed to her that conflict, both interpersonal and worldwide, always should be resolvable with reason and good will. Emmy was a deeply moral person, and her actions were based on a sense of right and wrong, not on expediency.Emmy's craftsmanship and creativity as a seamstress were admired by all who had the fortune to know her. In addition to clothes - everything from tee-shirts to wedding dresses - she created stuffed animals, dolls, pillows, quilts and handbags, some of which won prizes at craft fairs. Over the decades, she gave countless Christmas and birthday presents to family and friends, but almost never bought a single one of them. For her, presents were a gift of self, and only things she had created fit that description. She was blessed with a remarkable appreciation of beauty, both manmade and natural. Emmy played piano, accordion, and especially in her later years, recorder. For many years, she was an active participant in early music groups in Santa Barbara. She had an exceptional ability for languages. As a young woman, Emmy learned Danish and English, which she spoke flawlessly; in later life, she learned Norwegian. Emmy pushed herself to achieve the highest quality in everything she did, as exemplified by sewing and by human relationships. She was unfailingly gracious, courteous, generous, thankful and tolerant of differences. She could also be playful, uninhibited and adventuresome. While losing many of her abilities in the last years, she never lost her ability to express and receive love.Emmy is survived by her two sons and their spouses, Peter R. Vogt and Randi K. Vogt of Port Republic, MD, and Volker M. Vogt and Carla Marceau of Ithaca, NY; by four grandchildren, A. Erik Vogt and family of Boulder, CO, Jason Vogt of Santa Barbara, CA, Reena Vogt of Malibu, CA, and Anthony Vogt of Ithaca, NY; by one great-grandchild, Johann Vogt of Boulder, CO; and in Germany by a sister, Annemarie Fokken; and five nieces and nephews.Contributions in Emmy's honor may be made to the New York State Early Music Association (NYSEMA, 616 Coddington Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850) or to the Anthroposophical Society of America (1923 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104-1797).A memorial celebration of Emmy's life, to be held at Kendal of Ithaca, will be announced at a later time by Bangs Funeral Home.