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Obituary

Susanne Adam passed away at home on Sunday, October 25, 2020. She was born to Georg and Susanne Krähling on August 9, 1927, in Mekenyes, Hungary; a farming community settled by Germans in the 18th century. She grew up without electricity or phones, plowing fields with draft animals and weaving hempen cloth; an automobile was a rare sight. When the Second World War came, she dug trenches for the Russians as their front advanced. After the war, her family was forced to leave the country along with most other ethnic Germans; in August 1947 their house was given to a partisan family, and they spent the next several months living in displaced persons camps in Austria and Germany. They finally settled in Bietigheim,West Germany, in February 1948. That summer she met Emmerich Adam (12/5/1928 - 4/16/2007) and married him on March 11, 1950.

They emigrated to the United States with their firstborn son in May 1952 on the USNS General R.M. Blatchford, with just a few dollars and a baby carriage. After landing in New York, they took the train to Loveland, Colorado where the Lutheran church that had sponsored their emigration was located. A year later they moved to Burlington to be close to Susanne's relatives who had been sponsored by Bethany Lutheran Church, which they were members of until they ends of their lives. They raised four children, teaching them life-skills they had grown up with and depended on - gardening and canning, butchering and sausage-making, cooking and baking- and shared what they could of the German and Hungarian languages and cultures they had grown up with.

Susanne worked several jobs in Burlington before beginning a long-time career at the former Holiday Inn in 1966. Starting as a salad lady, she eventually worked her way up to banquet hostess. She retired in 1991 and was able to devote more time to gardening and friends. She served for years on the church's condolences committee. She was active and fairly healthy up until the last few months, living on her own in the home she and her husband built.

She is survived by four children, Emmerich E. (Sharon) Adam of Burlington, Monika Adam (Greg) Pickard of Lakemoor, IL, Carol Holtz of Island Lake, IL, and John (Michael Krohn) Adam of Manhattan, KS; four grandchildren, Shawn (Jaime) Adam of Burlington, Ryan (Angelina) Adam of Tripoli, IA, Adam Holtz of Island Lake, IL, and Kristina Pickard of Lakemoor, IL; five great-grandchildren; four step-great-grandchildren; three step-great-great-grandchlidren; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband.

Prugh Funeral Service is in care of arrangements.

No formal visitation will be held, inurnment will be at Aspen Grove Cemetery at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established for Great River Hospice and Bethany Lutheran Church, who were both were very wonderful in helping Susanne and her family manage her last few months on Earth.