Mathilde E. Klee

Mathilde E. Klee

December 30, 1923 - April 11, 2012

Mathilde E. Klee

December 30, 1923 - April 11, 2012

Obituary

Mathilde E. Klee
12/30/23 4/11/12

Mathilde E. Klee, age 88, passed away April 11, 2012. She was preceded in death by Hellmut, her beloved husband of 50 years, in 1999.

Mathilde and Hellmut emigrated to the USA from Germany in 1956 and from there were based in numerous locales in Europe, the USA and Saudi Arabia due to Hellmut’s work. Mathilde thoroughly enjoyed all the friends she found and had stayed in touch with throughout the world.

She will be missed tremendously by her sister Margot Barthel, her son Stephen, daughter Angie Wheat, grandson Eric Wheat and niece Charlotte Barthel.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 4 pm at O’Connor Mortuary in Laguna Hills, CA.

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2 responses to Mathilde E. Klee

  1. Cheryl Wait says:

    I wanted to share a memory I have of Mrs. Klee that always makes me smile.
    Mrs. Klee will forever be in my family’s mind and in our hearts. She has become part of our history, and our traditions, and I could never thank her enough.
    I had spent years trying to find proof that an old family recipe of mine was correct, not only in a baking sense, but also geographically.
    It was taught to me by an old family friend of my grandparents, and I have been making it since I was ten. From the time I was twenty until just a year or so ago, everyone I spoke to across the country, every cookbook I looked at, every bakery I called, said yeast was an ingredient in this recipe; and it most emphatically is not.
    Mrs. Klee knew instantly what recipe was being discussed, and what the ingredients should be. When she was asked about the recipe and its ingredients, she immediately said “Yeast…?” “There’s no yeast!”
    After years of looking for someone who knew what I was talking about, I had finally found someone who knew, not only what my recipe was, but how it should be made.
    Now every time one of us makes the recipe, and in generations to come, the story of how Mrs. Klee validated our recipe in an instant, with a few chosen words is and will be told, again and again with great glee.
    Our recipe has been vindicated, by a woman who would know without a doubt. We will forever be in her debt. Thank you so much.

    The Wait family would like to offer our deepest sympathy to Mrs. Klee’s family, we are thinking of you at this time of loss, you are in our thoughts and in our prayers.

  2. In 1977 my family and I were relocated by Chevron to Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia.

    I immediately enrolled into an Arabic class and to my surprise a lovely German lady named Matilda was also enthusiastic to learn the language. Needless to say we bonded mainly because I spoke German and our Arabic teacher Maroof Halabi’s class dwindled to just the two of us!
    We continued taking Arabic lessons for years…written and spoken and became pretty good at it!

    Additionally our husbands became fast friends which made it even nicer, we were in each others homes constantly, cooking, drinking and enjoying the family ties we so missed.

    Matilda and Helmut finished their assignment and returned to Laguna Hills where Helmut eventually retired.

    We made it a point to come home to the US every year after that to visit the Klees and like family, stay in touch!

    After my divorce things got busy with real estate.
    I remained in touch by phone and visited Matilda every couple of years from Bakersfield where I lived for the next 10 years. Unfortunately Helmut passed during that time and Matilda, being the strong woman she is, continued to be the true friend she always was.

    I moved up to the Bay Area eventually in 1997 and unfortunately the phone conversations were the main link between us.
    I went down to LA/Orange county only a couple of times but our love and admiration for each other never faltered.
    We always spoke and and checked in with each other regularly. She was healthy full of life till recently…when I could detect a feeling of too much to cope with / mainly the garden- the house and the overall day to day activities.

    Only this last year did I notice she became less active and more forgetful…my conversations continued till she had to go to the hospital for several medical issues and then of course to the nursing home when I could not speak to her any more!

    She was loved as a dear friend and true human being!

    Meiner lieber Matilda ..tschuuusse.

    Naveen Pedersen

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