Britta Engelmann

Britta Engelmann of Live Oak, CA passed away on Aug 3, 2022.
Britta was born in Vienna, Austria to parents Renate and Robert. Along with her parents, Britta is preceded in death by her first husband, Peter Kalles; her 2nd
husband, Peter Engelmann; her third husband, Irmfried “Winnetou” Suchomel, as well as her brother Peter and sisters Bella and Christa.
She is survived by her sister, Renate Hartung in Germany; sons Mathias, Christian, and Robert Engelmann; grandchildren Madeline, Andrew, Riley, Shane, and Jenna Engelmann. She will also be missed by her pets, a dog named Tina and Pepi the amazon cockatoo.
Britta was raised in post-WWII Germany under sometimes difficult circumstances but also had many fun memories she shared with her family over the years. There were excursions as a pre-school child with her older brother Peter to “liberate” potatoes from nearby farmers’ fields so they would have enough food, or living in an Austrian castle, or a 2-week camping trip she took as a teenager to northern Finland, complete
with a sauna at each primitive hut.  She was active in sports since childhood, having been invited to the German junior Olympic ski training camp as a teenager. She enjoyed making pottery and painting and supplemented the family income at
times by selling handcrafted items, as well as making tiles for a “Kachelofen”, a type of masonry wood stove made out of specialized stove tiles that originates from central Europe.  Britta emigrated with her family from Germany to North Carolina in 1980. She went back to school to obtain a degree in veterinary technology and worked as a licensed veterinary technician for many years, mostly in emergency clinics in NC and CA. While living in Colorado in the late 1980’s, she worked at a ski-lift operator and ski instructor at the Winter Park Ski Resort. She then moved to Oxnard, CA, where she met her third husband, Winnetou. She continued a career as a veterinary technician and as a part-time ski instructor into her 60’s in CA until she retired. She enjoyed swimming and walking along the beach with her friends. Some of her favorite traveling memories included time spent along local lakes and on the beaches of Italy and Greece. Britta loved her independence and frequently moved, always looking for small and affordable living quarters in unique locations, such as a blue camping trailer near Mammoth, CA and a tiny studio apartment right at the edge of the pacific ocean in Shell Beach, CA. In 2018, she had to start over after losing nearly all of her belongings in the Camp Fire in Paradise, CA. After the fire, she moved to Live Oak, CA where she lived on her son’s (Chris) property.
Britta’s ashes will be spread by family members in some of her favorite places in Germany, California, and North Carolina.
Memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society or the Carolina Raptor Center.