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| SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | FEBRUARY 2019 | 57 Friends we will miss Suzanna Luiso, 91 passed away on Monday, December 24, 2018 in Yucaipa, California. She was born April 3, 1927 in Inez, Kentucky to George and Elsa Harris. She had been a resident of Banning for 23 years. Gerda Hedwig Strauss, 91, passed away on December 22 in Banning, California. She was born in 1927 in Friedland, East Prussia. In 1944, on a brutally cold January day, she and her family fled the Russian invasion into their homeland, and managed to escape after a grueling trek to Northern Germany, where the family finally settled. Her sons, Martin and Michael, were raised in a tiny village, Waldesruh, where Gerda worked double shifts after WWII, while her mother and father helped raise the boys. She also took care of her parents until they passed away. In 1969, former Governor Ronald Reagan expedited her immigration to the USA due to her son, Martin, who was serving in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War. She became a US citizen a short time later. In the 1970s, she worked as a housekeeper for two wealthy families in Beverly Hills and Hermosa Beach. Her grandkids enjoyed coming to the beach as she took them fishing off the pier, or spending time romping on the beach. She then moved to Carson, California, and got a job at Disneyland, in Anaheim, where she was a supervisor in the costume department, a job that she thoroughly enjoyed. Every Thursday she drove to Diamond Bar in the afternoon to pick up her granddaughter, Simone, to take her to piano and ballet lessons, with a special trip to Carl's Jr. for hamburgers and onion rings, as Simone fondly remembers. In 1996, she took her son, Michael, and her granddaughter, Simone, back to her hometown in East Prussia and other places in Germany for a reminiscent trip. Gerda actually had a chance to sit at the very same desk where she sat at as a young student; and two desks over, she could still see her name, Gerda, carved into the wood of the desk. When they asked her who sat there, she named a former boyfriend who she later maintained contact with after years of being away. In 1997, she retired and moved to Pacific Grove, California, and lived there until she moved to Sun Lakes in 2003. She was a great cook, avid gardener, and she enjoyed her family and her many dogs. Her most outstanding trait was her work ethic. She always worked two to three jobs at one time and was very frugal, saved her money, and purchased three houses over her lifetime. On the other hand, she was generous to a fault. She loved taking her family to Sunday brunches at places like the Beverly Hilton, early on, or in recent years, the Mission Inn in Riverside. Our birthday and special occasion cards were always filled with a repeatedly special sum of money, and at Christmas, her guest room bathroom tub was filled to the brim with all types of German cookies, cakes, and candies. She is survived by her son, Martin and his wife, Suzanne; her son, Michael and his wife, Marti, who also live in Sun Lakes; and her grandchildren, Martin Junior and Heidi from Merced, California, and her granddaughter, Simone, of Fontana, California, and her fiancé, Gabriel, as well as many family members in her native Germany. A private service was held in celebration of her extraordinary life. She will be greatly missed by all.

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