Thea Spiegel (nee Lange)

Thea Spiegel (nee Lange) was born December 4, 1926 in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). She died on October 20, 2012, in St. Louis, Missouri. In June of 1939, Thea was sent by her parents to England on the Kindertransport, arriving on July 7, 1939. Her father, Jakob Lange, publisher and editor of a popular local newspaper, was arrested on the first day of the war, September 1, 1939, and was executed by the Nazis on November 10, 1939 at nearby Stuthoff Concentration Camp. Thea initially lived in an orphanage, then with three different foster families, before being united with her uncle David Langer in London. She was injured in a Nazi V-1 attack in 1944. In 1946 she immigrated to Cleveland on the second sailing of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, living with her uncle and aunt, Morris and Johana Lange. She married Martin Spiegel in 1947, and was widowed in 1962. Mrs. Spiegel moved to St. Louis in 2010. Mrs. Spiegel was the Executive Director of the American Zionist Federation Cleveland office, and also worked at the Israel Aliyah Center. She later sold Real Estate. She was a life member of Hadassah, and former president of Shoshana Group 15. She was also a member of Naamat and of Cedar Road Synagogue. Mrs. Spiegel became an avid Cleveland Indians fan after the Indians won the 1948 World Series. In July, 1998, she was honored to be able to throw out the first pitch at a Jacobs Field Indians-Yankees game. Her greatest source of pride and her first priority were the education and success of her children. She is survived by a daughter Shoshana (Ted Stewart) of Herndon, Virginia, and sons Jay of Mount Vernon, Virginia, Craig of St. Louis, Missouri, Daniel (Xiao Xin Wu) of Allentown, Pennsylvania, five grandchildren and a sister, Ruthy Drori of Moledet, Israel. In lieu of flowers donations requested to Hadassah or a charity of your choice