OBITUARY Trudy Butcher May 2, 1926 – July 22, 2018 Trudy Butcher, 92, of Chattanooga, passed away Sunday, July 22, 2018, at her home in Lookout Valley. Trudy was born May 2, 1926, in Vienna, Austria, and was the youngest of six children. Despite her mother’s death when Trudy was only 4 years old, she had a happy childhood which was interrupted by Hitler annexing Austria and the subsequent war.
When the Allied forces arrived, she and her family managed to hide from Russian soldiers who invaded their home. Trudy’s tremendous strength and her special kind of humor helped her survive these hard times. In 1945, with the Americans installing in the zone where Trudy’s family lived, life took a positive turn for Trudy who met and fell in love with an American soldier named Bruce Butcher.
They married on December 20, 1948, in Vienna just before Bruce’s departure back to the United States. Trudy followed him in May 1949. They made their home in Lookout Valley throughout their 63-year marriage.
Trudy worked in the restaurant business for many years and gained increasing responsibilities. In 1993 she retired from her position as manager of Jason’s Restaurant. Trudy will be missed by her family and friends both in Vienna and Chattanooga where she felt hugely supported and loved as a member of the community and as a member of Mountain View Presbyterian Church.
Trudy was preceded in death by her parents Josef and Theresia Svoboda, husband Bruce, infant daughter, Debbie, four brothers, Robert, Willie, Fritz, and Pepi Svoboda, one sister, Leopoldine (Poldi) Kremser, great great niece, Patricia Schoedl, and nephews Eddie Scoggins, and Scott and Tony Cobble. She is survived by sisters-in-law Marilyn Butcher, Emily Cameron (Harvey), and Nelda Janoe, nieces, Wynona and Beth Butcher, nephews Lane Butcher, Brian Scoggins, Morris Butcher and their families, nephews Jeff Scoggins and Jim Butcher, great niece Debra Scoggins; and in Austria nieces Elfi Wolte, Christl Schilling (Norbert) and Trudy Loidolt (Egon), nephew Robert Svoboda (Sissy), great nephew Robert Svoboda, Jr. (Connie) and great nieces Evelyn Schoedl, Carola Loidolt, and Anna and Lisa Svoboda. She is also survived by friend and caregiver Lynda Helton who wishes to thank Juliean and Linsey of Hospice of Chattanooga for their kindness and compassion.
A Celebration of Trudy’s Life will be held on July 27, 2018 at 1:00 p.m with Rev. Walter Gienapp officiating. The family will receive friends beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Friday until service time.
Burial will follow at Lakewood Memory Gardens West, Cummings Highway, Chattanooga, TN. Memorial donations may be made to Mountain View Presbyterian Church, 3111 Kelly’s Ferry Road, Chattanooga, TN 37419. Arrangements are under the care of Chattanooga Funeral Home Crematory and Florist East Chapel, 404 South Moore Rd.
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