Manfred Hartmann, crossed the rainbow bridge peacefully on January 14 at 10:15 am surrounded by family after a valiant battle with heart disease. Although his physical heart was weak, his kind heart prevailed as he was able to express love to his family and maintain his sense of humor. He was born in Germany to Agnes and Werner Hartmann on Christmas Eve 1933.
He was educated in Lubeck, attended "das Katherineum" and upon graduating joined the German Border Police, where at some point he was on guard duty at the residence of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
He married his wife Ingrid in Germany and they made their home in White Plains New York. After immigrating to the USA in 1957 he worked in various machine shops and retired as a Master Instrument Maker from North American Phillips Laboratory, while working for Phillips his most noteworthy accomplishment was working on an extensive project for NASA. In 1996 he retired from Phillips, which enabled him to spend more time with his beloved German Shepherd, Channing whom he trained in Agility and they competed together for many awards. Until last summer, Manfred volunteered with Meals on Wheels.
Manfred enjoyed German Shepherds, having raised five in his lifetime. Camping and fishing were great hobbies. He was a pack master of his son’s Boy Scout troop for many years and in retirement he and Ingrid drove their camper as far as Alaska. He was the great procrastinator, collector of stuff and Amazon’s best customer. A wealth of information and an advocate of his own health care, Manfred defied the odds of living with heart disease since age 37 and persisted in his desire to have a good death experience. We will miss his wisdom, guidance, strong expressed opinions and genuine interest in our lives.
Besides his wife of 58 years, he is survived by daughter Regina Malley (Kingston) of Columbus, Ohio;
son Roy (Louise) of Goldens Bridge, NY, and son Erik of Hartsdale, NY. He had two devoted grandchildren Jason Mauer of Michigan and Rachel Mauer of Ohio,
Sister Ingeborg Ybarra of Arizona and Mexico as well as his sister-in-law Astrid Rogers, her children Dan Rogers, Bonnie Vendola and grandnephew Nicholas Vendola.
He is preceded in death by his sister, Heidi Hernandez, brother-in-law Bob Rogers and niece Audrey Rogers.
A Memorial Service and Celebration of his life will be held at a later date at the Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation in White Plains, NY.
Donations in his memory can be made to Meals on Wheels or Hospice of Westchester/Putnam.
The family wishes to thank Hospice especially his nurse Nancy and health aid Andrea who’s assistance made his peaceful and dignified death at home possible.
The best honor to his memory is to be kind to one another, generous of spirit, and in his own words “take it easy”.