Ursula Devine
Ursula Devine passed
away Tuesday, May 7th in
her home in Freder-
icksburg, Texas, a day be-
fore she was to celebrate
her 88th birthday.
Ursula, or Uschi to
many, was a woman of
the world, but more im-
portantly she was a fix-
ture in the communities
where she lived. Born Ur-
sula Dieterich in Berlin to
Augusta Ohler and Hans
Dieterich in 1931. As a
young teenager, Ursula
was relocated to a small
town north of Berlin in an
effort to spare the chil-
dren of the city from the
daily bombing raids.
When the town of Neur-
uppin was sacked by Rus-
sian forces she and her
friend traversed the Ger-
man countryside by foot
with one bike with a bro-
ken wheel between them.
They followed the rail-
road tracks nearly 70 ki-
lometers back to Berlin to
find her family amidst the
rubble.
That same grit and
determination led her to
her next adventure which
awaited her in America.
At 17 years old she took a
transatlantic ship and
eventually ended up in
Minnesota where her life
began anew and she start-
ed her family. Eventually
she moved to Minot,
North Dakota where her
family continued to grow
and she laid down roots
in the local community.
Ursula didn’t believe in
sitting on the sidelines
and being a passive ob-
server of History. She also
had a strong commitment
to her new home, the Un-
ited States. While living
in Minot, Ursula became
extremely active in the
North Dakota GOP and
was an indispensable part
of Senator Mark Andrews’
campaign office as a
volunteer. The rough and
tumble of politics wasn’t
enough though. Ursula
was active in the Minot
community whether it
was through the Art Club,
Curling, or trap and skeet
shooting and golfing with
her friends at the Minot
Country Club.
In 1983 Ursula started a
new adventure in her life
by moving from North
Dakota to her new home
in the Lone Star state. The
town of Fredericksburg
proved to be the most
welcoming community for
the girl from Berlin, and it
was while visiting a col-
lege in San Antonio for
her daughter that she de-
cided Fredericksburg
would be her new home
and adventure. She im-
mediately connected with
the close-knit community
and carried on her politi-
cal work by connecting
with Faye Kelly and the
Texas Republican Wom-
en. She was also a staple
on Main Street the entire
time she lived there, first
as part-owner of Kids on
Main, Manager of Der Alte
Fritz, or owning and
operating her own gift
shop.
For years she travelled
the world with friends,
and everywhere she went
she seemed to make new
friends. Her adventurous
spirit and natural curiosi-
ty led her to all corners of
the earth and indulged
her need to know dif-
ferent cultures and peo-
ple. She especially en-
joyed her trips back to Eu-
rope which were especial-ly meaningful for her
years after she left the
continent she once called
home.
There came a time
when she was no longer
able to travel the world
but that didn’t stop her
from taking an interest in
the world’s affairs. Ursula
was a voracious reader
and was always on top of
the current events here in
America (reading the Wall
Street journal cover to
cover every morning), and
abroad – by reading the
newspapers in her native
German on her kindle
when she had the chance.
Her memory lives on
across this great country
through her children Su-
san Feist, Thomas Gehl,
John Gehl, Mary Weiner
and Stephanie Clemons;
as well as her twelve
grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren. Oma
carried within her heart
stories about each and
every one of her
grandchildren, and re-
galed them with heartfelt
accounts of their child-
hood, and even the occa-
sional embarrassing anec-
dote followed by her one
of a kind laugh.
In a letter from Senator
Andrews, the senator la-
ments, “we’ll miss you,
lots, and wish you a
wonderful life in your
new home. Texas should
be so lucky.” We all share
those sentiments on this
day, and in the days to
come. We’ll miss you, oo-
dles and oodles, and wish
you a wonderful life in
your new home. We
should count ourselves
lucky to have been
blessed with the privilege
of having you in all of our
lives. We’d say “I love
you” to Ursula, but then
we know her response
even in silenceÃ- “I love
you more.”
In lieu of flowers con-
tributions may be made to
Hill Country SPCA or St.
Mary’s School Endow-
ment Fund.