Walburga (Wallie) Duckworth
February 24, 1929 – July 26, 2026
Wallie was born in Germany to Ludwig and Walburga Breitner. They were very young and had to place Wallie in foster care. Wallie was a foster child till the age of 13 and absolutely loved growing up on the farm her foster family owned. At the age of 13 she had to go back and live with her parents and 3 siblings, Karl married to Katie; Robert married to Herta; and her baby sister Lieselotte married a couple of times and widowed. She is proceeded in death by both families and has nieces and nephews to remember her now that live in Germany and one sister-in-law, Herta Breitner who is still with us.
World War II broke out when she was a teenager. She described it as a very scary time. How they had to hunt and steal food, the simple but filling meals her mom created. The troops coming through and inspecting looking for the Jewish families in hiding. The bombs and just the terror that was her life during that time.
In the late 1940’s she met her husband to be. She tells the story of how they met and that she didn’t like him because he had curly hair and she thought he was a sissy. That story never got old. Joseph was persistent and he won her heart. He asked her to marry him and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to leave her family, friends or country. Joe extended a year in Germany to give her that time. She finally agreed to marry him in 1952 and go to America. Wallie couldn’t believe how big the Empire State Building was in New York City. Wallie met his family in Maryland and then they traveled by bus to California to begin her adventure.
Neither one knew how to drive. They bought a car in California and the dealership gave them a ride home in it. Wallie, ever the go-getter, learned to drive first. A neighbor who happened to be a police officer taught her how to drive. She had her license in less than 3 weeks. They didn’t want to test her but the police officer went with her and assured them she was more than ready. Wallie then taught Joe how to drive.
Joe came down on orders to go to Japan. Unless Wallie was an American citizen she couldn’t join him. She quickly got that with the help of neighbors after Joe left. She traveled by boat to Japan. She absolutely loved Japan. They met a couple that they became lifelong friends with, visiting each other all over the world and the United States.
In the late 1950’s Joe was stationed to Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They both fell in love with the tiny town it was. It reminded Wallie of home in Germany. They bought a home in 1957. Wallie told stories of how sometimes she didn’t know how they were going to survive with the house payment, they did though. In 1960 their oldest daughter Diana was born.
In 1961 Joe came on orders for France. Wallie and Diana drove from Colorado to Maryland to stay with Joe’s family until the travel orders came for them. She tells the story of only missing one turn off because Diana was fussy. She was a small toddler after all. Wallie also took the car up to Bayone, NJ, by herself to have that vehicle shipped to France.
The travel orders came after 9 months and off Wallie and Diana went to join Joe in France. They went every chance they got to Germany to visit her family. They always stopped in a little French town near the German border and got a bunch of French bread to take to her family for the big dinners. Wallie loved French bread till she passed away. Wallie told stories of the travels sight-seeing in France starting on a boulevard and that turning into very narrow roads. They had a 1959 Impala that they had to back up several times as it was too big to fit down those narrow roads.
Joe was again stationed to Ent Air Force base in 1964 and their youngest daughter Linda was born in 1965.
In 1966 Joe got orders for Vietnam. Joe sent Wallie all kinds of material from Vietnam and Wallie made so many of Diana’s and Linda’s clothes for those years. Wallie could sew so beautifully. He came back in 1968 after extending there, which made Wallie very angry. To make it up to Wallie, he asked to be stationed in Germany. Normally two tours overseas back-to-back aren’t approved but this was.
We all went to Germany in 1968-1972. Wallie saw her family often, both the foster family and her biological family. We traveled all over Germany and Wallie got to see all the King Ludwig castles that she loved, the Linderhof Castle being the most special to her.
Joe, once again, got stationed to Ent Air Force Base, this time they were deactivating the base. He retired a year later. Wallie and Joe sold the house as it was too small, bringing a schrank and bigger furniture from Germany will do that. In 1973 they bought a home in Widefield. Wallie had the best yard on the block. All the flowers, trees and a big vegetable garden.
In 1979 Joe took Wallie to look at new home plans and bought Wallie her dream home. They moved into that home in June of 1979. She passed away peacefully in that home. Joe preceded her in death 23 years prior in 2003. Linda proceeded her in death in 2020.
She is survived by Diana, grandchildren Mike (Nancy) and William Dietter and Kristina Montenegro (Jerry) and Marcus Obie (LeAnne) and 5 great-grandchildren.