Adelheid "Heidi" Rost

Heidi Rost, longtime Fairbornite and former East German escapee, passed away early Friday, April 21, 2017, at her home. She had just turned 92 last month.
Now everyone in Fairborn is a little more German - because of a little German.
A survivor of World War II, Heidi was born "Adelheid Raschke" on March 29, 1925, in Bleizrig, Germany. The area later became East Germany under Communist regime where Heidi escaped by foot.
Heidi's beloved husband Bill Rost passed away in July 2008. She leaves her four adopted children, John, Joey, Julie and Robin Jo. Other survivors include: Bill's sister, Mary Jo, and David Shade and sons, Paul, Bill and Andy; grandkids, Danny & Tamara, Christopher & Tyler; Son in-law Ed Conley; Special friends Kim Case and Shorty Lunsford; and three cats whose names Heidi has forgotten. Relatives in northern Germany include her sister, Mother Superior Johanna Raschke, and the Koehler family of Dinklar: Uwe, Wolfgang and Petra.
Like many after World War II, Heidi lost much of her personal belongings including her identity papers, which were burned by Russian soldiers. At 14, she worked one year duty for a family with 6 children in Ascherlen. Heidi said this was her "Hitler duty year." During this time, Heidi's mother, Agnes Bischade Raschke, was killed by an air raid. Her father, Joseph Raschke, was listed as Missing in Action with the German army.
In 1948 Heidi escaped East Germany not once but twice, going back a second time to retrieve a sister who would not leave. Heidi went to the American sector where she was put on a train and arrived in Bremen. She met Bill who was serving with the United States Army. Neither spoke each other's language very well. They were engaged for two years and a love struck Bill sent for his Heidi when he returned stateside. On March 8, 1952, she boarded the Queen Mary and landed at Ellis Island in New York after a two-week journey. She and Bill married 20 May, with Bill being AWOL from the Army because Heidi's boat was a day late.
Heidi taught herself to speak English by watching Dragnet TV shows and listening to the voice over while reading the words that scrolled at the end. She never lost her strong German accent.
Heidi never met a stranger. She embraced her new life in the United States and became a Naturalized US citizen in 1958. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church but a bigger member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Her passion was bowling and she managed to do so until she was 85, which was also her bowling average. Heidi liked to cook, crochet, fish, watch soap operas, and yell at her four unruly kids. Mainly she liked to cater to her husband Bill and would not let him eat anyone's cooking but her own.
For many years, Heidi babysit from home, earning enough money to take her four kids and husband back to Germany where she was re-united with her father who was released from a Russian military prison and had tracked her down through the Red Cross after 20 years.
It was Heidi's last wish to be at home in the end because she said all her friends who go to a retirement home don't come back. Her youngest son, Joey, and Kim stayed with her at the house for over six years and took care of her until "she krapped out," as Heidi so eloquently put it.
Services will be held 11 am Tuesday, April 25, at Morris Sons Funeral, 104 W. Main Street, Fairborn, with immediate burial at Fairfield Cemetery off Broad Street. Friends may send/bring white carnations, Heidi's favorite flower, to lay at graveside. All are invited to make a covered dish for a nearby gathering afterward.

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