Emma (Emmy) Theresia (Koch) Petermann 1917-2014

Emma  (Emmy) Theresia (Koch) Petermann was born April 12,1917 in Gerabronn, Germany to Theresia and Joseph Koch. She had an older brother Joseph thirteen years her senior.

Her family immigrated to Chicago when she was only ten years old.

She met her future husband, Bruno Petermann when she was fifteen. They married when she was seventeen. He passed away in 1989 at eighty years of age.

She had two children, Hedy (Petermann) Hoover, born 1934, and Dietrich, born 1938. Both are now deceased. Bruno served in the Army in WW2 in the European theater. They lived in a house they built in Palatine, Illinois.The family moved to So. California in  1948. They lived in the San Fernando Valley and settled in to Arcadia in 1956. The family liked to travel around the country. Bruno had been a hairdresser and owned a number of salons.After her children were grown, Emmy worked as an office manager at X-ray Products and, later, worked for nearly twenty years at A.S. Rogers Tax prep. in Alhambra.

Emmy leaves four grandchildren. Kurt Hoover, Kira (Hoover) Deputy, Kristin (Petermann) Medina and Matthew Petermann as well as a daughter-in-law, Sharon Jergens.

Emma  (Emmy) Theresia (Koch) Petermann has three great-grandchildren. Madysen Petermann, Adeleine Petermann, and Devon Medina. She also has a niece, Margot Fortman, a nephew, Edgar Koch and a grand-niece, Nancy Fortman as well as many more nieces, nephews, grand and great grands in the USA and in Germany.

She was a devoted volunteer at Methodist Hospital for approximately thirty years as well as an active

member of the Arcadia Women’s Club and the Republican Women’s Club. Emmy was also a very active church member at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Arcadia.

Perhaps those who knew her best will remember her keen sense of humor ability to dance well into her 90’s and passion for a drop of Chardonnay from time to time.

She was part of a group of widowers who became long-time friends known as the “Corrupts Group”” They frequented the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce mixers as well as a number of other social events around town and was especially fond of the Taste of Arcadia each year. Emmy also had pride of place in Sierra Madre to watch the July 4 parade without fail every year with many of her dear friends from the Corrupts.

She loved to go to Santa Anita Racetrack and sit with her regulars. Her grandson, Kurt, works there and she was always thrilled to see him.

Each summer, she loved to go to the concerts in the park in Arcadia and Temple City .

She loved music, singing and any kind of celebration, especially birthday parties for her.

With a passion for  chocolate (Hershey’s kisses were her favorite) and conversation, there were few who didn’t know and love Emmy for being the life of any party.

She loved spending time with her grandchildren probably more than anything else and her grandchildren loved spending time with her.

She was forever devoted to her husband Bruno. She loved to tell the story of how they met to anyone who would listen. It goes something like this: Her brother took her to a dance at a German club in Chicago when she was fifteen. He felt sorry for her because she had to drop out of high school in order to work to help support her family. She saw Bruno across the crowded dance floor and knew right then and there that he was the one. They were inseparable for 56 years.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to The Arcadia Methodist Hospital Foundation or The Arboretum.

Her memorial service will take place on March 22 at 11:00 AM at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 512 W. Duarte Rd. Arcadia, CA. (626) 447-7690

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