Brigitte M. Voegtlen, 83

June 16, 1938 - January 16, 2022

On Sunday morning, January 15, 2022, I lost Brigitte, my beautiful companion, my love, my rock of 60 years, to cancer. My name is Robert S. Voegtlen. Brigitte was born on June 16, 1938, in Hof, Germany. She moved during the war to magnificent Bamberg, Germany where she spent the remainder of her youth. As a young woman, she visited America to see some friends and while here, we were introduced to each other by a mutual friend in a bowling lane in Brewster, New York. My Brigitte was a beautiful redhead with freckles and a sparkle in her eyes. I was smitten. We dated and on November 22, 1962, we were married in my hometown of Lebanon, New Jersey, by the town mayor. We then traveled to Bamberg and repeated our vows in a much larger wedding in a beautiful cathedral in Bamberg. Berchtesgaden was the site of our honeymoon.

We returned to America and after 4 years, settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where we remained. We were blessed with three children, Andrea, Christine and Robert O. And our children have given us 5 amazing grandchildren – Sabrina, Shawn, Maddie, Ben, and Robert T. Brigitte was a wonderful stay-at-home mother until our children were well into high school. She then began her 30-year career at Watt & Shand and later, Bon-Ton.

We loved to travel and visited Canada, Mexico, Florida, with many visits to Hilton Head, as well as other shorter journeys. But our biggest joy was returning to Germany, and hosting my Schwiegermutter and Schwiegervater here in America. My in-laws loved their grandchildren. And we loved visiting Bamberg, Germany, which is the prettiest city I have ever seen. Bamberg is over 1,000 years old with a canal and a river weaving through the city. In the 1970’s, our family helped celebrate Bamberg’s 1,000 year anniversary of its founding. Most of our visits to Germany were spent in Bamberg – why would we go anywhere else! But during other travels, we did visit the ferris wheel in Vienna, rode a gondola in Venice, drove through the Alps and saw the Matterhorn, and watched the Glockenspiel in Munich before going to the largest beer hall. Brigitte loved cruises so we had a few boat rides. Her favorite part was an omelet for breakfast. Always on the cruises, some members of our family joined us. We are a very close family.

For many years we were members of the Lancaster Liederkranz. And church was always very important to us. We attended several churches, and Westminster Presbyterian is our current home.

In lieu of flowers please make a donation to your church or favorite charity in Brigitte’s memory. And in her honor enjoy a good meal with family and friends to celebrate her life.

I will love you always Brigitte and may God take care of you.

Services will be held at Charles F. Snyder Jr. Funeral Home, 3110 Lititz Pike, Lititz PA on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. Visitation will be held from 9:30 – 10:30 am. The service will be held at 10:30 am. Interment will be at Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery at 1:00 pm. For those unable to attend the service, please visit Brigitte’s obituary at SnyderFuneralHome.com to view the live stream of the service, beginning shortly before 10:30 am.