Roswitha P. Diefendorf, of East Syracuse, passed away on March 18, 2020, in Wheat Ridge, CO, after a short but mighty battle with pancreatic cancer.
Roswitha was born on Feb. 11, 1942, in northeast Germany. She and her family survived the bombing of Dresden in 1945 and escaped from East Berlin during the cold war. She met her late husband, Donald L Diefendorf, while living in Nassau, Bahamas, and emigrated to the United States in the 1960s.
Roswitha was a member of the Neowahga Chapter of the Eastern Star in Cazenovia, in addition to serving on the altar guild of Church of the Savior in Syracuse and singing in various Episcopal church choirs throughout the years with her husband and daughter. The church was her rock and she found great comfort within her faith.
Roswitha is survived by her daughter, Elke Diefendorf (Ryan Mitchell) of Wheat Ridge, CO, and her sisters, Sigrid Graf, Elke Zimmermann and Gudrun Kaspar of Germany.
A celebration of life will happen this summer in Central New York. In lieu of flowers, donations in Roswitha’s memory may be sent to the Collier Hospice Center, 3210 N. Lutheran Parkway, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033 or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network at pancan.org.
