Lisa Anna Slater Owens

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 2:00 PM, with a viewing from 12 noon to 2:00 PM, at Asbury United Methodist Church, Lafayette, LA, for Lisa Anna Kirsch Slater Owens (93). Lisa passed away peacefully at home on Thursday, May 14, 2015, surrounded by her five children and other extended family. Her loving, vivacious, and generous spirit will be greatly missed. A funeral service will be at 1:00 PM, Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at Anderson-Burris Funeral Home Chapel, with burial to follow in Memorial Park Cemetery. Lisa was born in 1922 in Berlin, Germany. As a gymnast in her school, Lisa was selected to participate in the opening ceremonies of the 1936 Olympic Games. At this Olympics, Lisa shook the hand of Adolph Hitler, not knowing the madness masked behind the smile. She completed high school in Germany, but her education was interrupted by WWII. Needing a job to help support her family, she entered trade school and secured a job as a teletypist in the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) and Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) in Berlin. Lisa was scheduled to be transferred to Greece however, her brother Heinz, was listed missing during the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943). Lisa instead asked to be transferred to Russia in hopes of finding more information about her missing brother so she was sent to the Russian Front. While Lisa lost many family members during WWII, including members placed in concentration camps, Lisa spent 70 years in a sustained effort to find out what had happened to her brother. In December 2012, Lisa received a letter from the Russian authorities informing her that her brother, Heinz, had passed in May 1943 in a Stalingrad Hospital from wounds sustained in battle. At the end of WWII, in June 1945, Lisa had a daughter, Katja Kirsch, with Kurt Kleinfeldt (deceased). Lisa immigrated to America in 1955 to Enid, Oklahoma where she met and married Reece Clark Slater (deceased) with whom she had four more children. Lisa worked as a certified medical transcriptionist at St. Mary's Hospital in Enid, Oklahoma. After retirement, Lisa volunteered at the hospital in some capacity until her move to Lafayette, LA, in 1990 to be closer to her twin daughters, Rebecca Snatic and Reene Pearson. Lisa joined Asbury United Methodist Church upon moving to Lafayette where she was involved with the Asbury Choir for many years and attended church regularly. Lisa was a vital member of the congregation. Lisa participated in the Sound Waves Community Chorus, was a member of the Red Hat Society and sang in the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Community chorus delegation performing in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Lisa authored an autobiography, The Rape of Berlin, and did extensive speaking engagements and interviews about her experiences before, during and after World War II throughout the United States, including military installations, television stations, community organizations and various schools. Lisa’s experiences were documented in several venues, including, a 2014 documentary called, The Lisa Kirsch Slater Story, by filmmaker Lucy Henke. In 1996, Lisa was interviewed for the SHOAH Visual History Foundation’s oral history project produced by Stephen Spielberg, who wrote Lisa a personal letter thanking her for participating. Lisa enjoyed traveling, swimming, and sports and loved watching tennis. She would dance every chance she got and lived a full and rich life, but Lisa was most proud of her large and extended family spanning different countries which she called "her life, love and legacy." Lisa was preceded in death by husbands, Reece C. Slater and William H. Owens, her parents, Friedrich Johann Joseph Kirsch and Hedwig Rosine Kirsch, brother, Heinz August Kirsch, and sister Christel Louise Melton, who was laid to rest in Arlington National cemetery with her husband T Sgt Tommy Melton. Lisa is survived by her 5 children, Katja L. Kirsch, Fort Worth, Tx; Reene Christel Pearson, husband Phillip H. Pearson, Broussard, LA; Rebecca Lisa Snatic, husband Dr. Steve Snatic, Lafayette, LA; Ernest Johann Slater, wife Ladonna Slater, Enid, Oklahoma; Ramona Rosine Kirsch, husband Evan Shofron, St. Petersburg, FL. Lisa has 15 grandchildren, 32 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren, and an extended family across the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, and Italy. Pallbearers (Lafayette): Dr. Dylan R. Pearson, Dr. Joseph Pearson, Dr. Steve Snatic, Phil Pearson, Jon Snatic, Irvin David II, Chris Shelton. Honorary Pallbearers (Lafayette): Irvin David III, Blake Pearson, Hayden Pearson, Reid Shelton. Pallbearers (Enid, OK): Ernest Johann Slater III, Elijah Slater, Zachary Slater, Seth Slater, Russell Carter, Michael Nichols, Jeff Powell, Reece Slater, Ethan Slater, Brock Slater. Honorary Pallbearers (Enid, OK): Zarek Slater, Lane Slater, Luke Slater, Parker Slater, Arch Woodard, Dr. Robert C. Hoffman, Dr. Robert Shuttee, Mr. Don Froese

Lisa Anna Slater Owens

March 5, 1922 - May 14, 2015