Ursula Martha Wang

MIDDLETON - Ursula Martha Wang (nee Ursula Martha Augusta Klein) died peacefully on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, at the age of 98 at her residence at Attic Angel in Middleton, Wis. She was born to Hedwig and Ernst Klein on July 29, 1925, in a miners’ colony, known as Gieschewald in Katowice, Poland. The historic event known as the “Silesian Uprisings” resulted in her family being repatriated to Germany and she, her parents and her younger brother, Werner, moved to Berlin when she was three years old. There she went to primary school and attended an all-girls high school where she was educated in preparation for attending medical school. This plan was derailed by the death of her father and various displacements caused by World War II. After the war she studied English, Russian and French at the University of Berlin. She became certified as an interpreter and worked at several different positions as a secretary/assistant/ interpreter for different international agencies including the U.S. State Department which stationed her at one point in Cyprus intercepting and translating Russian radio communications.

In 1954, she immigrated to the United States with her first husband, Karl Heckendorf, whom she had married a year or so before. They divorced within a few years without children. She earned an Associate of Arts degree in 1956 from Lincoln College in Illinois and went on to earn her certification as a medical technologist from the Colorado State University Hospital. Around that time, she met Dr. Charles Wang who was a resident in Pathology at the same hospital. They were married in 1958 in Pueblo, Colo., and the next year they had a son. The family then moved to Pennsylvania and on to West Virginia in search of an ideal place, and grew by three daughters along the way. They settled in Holland, Mich., in 1964 with their four young children and after a few years, Ursula helped design and oversee the building of the family home on Lake Macatawa. There Ursula continued to raise the children and enjoyed a Holland, Mich., lifestyle of water activities and picking blueberries. For many years Ursula was a member of the Rena Boven Guild, a service guild of Holland Hospital. Her hobbies included architecture and real estate improvements. In the mid-1990s, Ursula and Charles retired to Pelican Bay in Naples, Fla., where they spent many happy days walking in the sunshine on the beach and observing the abundant wildlife in the area. There Ursula continued her interests in energy and nature conservation. She regularly donated to local wildlife and other environmental preservationist charities, and she was an enthusiast for clearing the beach of trash and other discarded beach items on her walks. You could always find a trash bag or two in her jacket pockets for that purpose. Also in her pockets were likely some chocolates that she was known to hand out to friends and strangers alike.

Ursula spent her final years in Middleton, Wis., living near her two youngest children and three of her grandchildren.

Many will remember that Ursula was a strong yet very soft and kind person. She was “old school” - simple and frugal in her ways and stoic. For example, she never complained about the gradual health deficits she experienced in her last years. Due to the scarcity and war in her early life, she never took anything for granted and was very grateful for, and contented with, her life as it unfolded.

She was generous and a good baker and always willing to lend her ear and give advice. Ursula is much loved by her family here in the U.S. and by her relatives in Germany and her unique character will be fondly remembered and missed.

Ursula was preceded in death by her parents, Ernst and Hedwig Klein; brother, Werner Klein; her cousins, including her favorite, Margarete Gerhard; and her dear husband of 52 years, Charles C. Wang. She is survived by her children, David (Lauri) Wang of Sheridan Wyo., Linda (John) Griffin of Bozeman, Mont., Irene Wang, and Emily Lewis of Middleton, Wis.; grandchildren, Julie (Laura) Wang and Christopher Wang, Quinn and Clark Griffin, Nathan Lewis, Charles and Sarah Larsen; nephew, Ulrich (Birke) Klein, niece, Amy Wang, and nephew, Jason Wang.

It is Ursula’s wish that she have no funeral and that she be cremated with her ashes scattered in the Gulf of Mexico where the remains of her husband Charles are. Friends and family will be notified of the date and time of a memorial service to be held at a future date.

Memorials in Ursula’s name made be made to Attic Angel (https://atticangel.org/give/ways-to-give) and Agrace HospiceCare (Agrace.org/donate) to whom Ursula and her family are eternally grateful for Ursula’s excellent care in the last months of her life. Links to both organizations may be found below.

Online remembrances and condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson West

Funeral & Cremation Care

7435 University Ave.

(608) 831-6761