Bernd Hellebrand – Obituary

by Lynn McMillen
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Bernd Hellebrand, 77, of Huntsville, passed away Saturday.  Bernd was born in Greifswald, Germany, a small city on the Baltic Sea, to Katie and Emil Hellebrand.  He immigrated to America with his mother and younger sisters in 1947.  His father had arrived in 1945 as part of the Von Braun Rocket Team. They lived in Fort Bliss, Texas until they relocated to Huntsville in 1950.

Bernd enjoyed life and considered his family his greatest blessing.  He is survived by his high school sweetheart and wife of 55 years, Lavon McFarlen Hellebrand; two sons, Duane (Allison) and Mike (Beth); three precious grandchildren, Gracie, Sam, and Mollye; two sisters, Gudrun Hanson (Robert) and Allie Tucker; and several nieces and nephews.

Bernd joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school and did a good-will tour around the world.  He developed a fondness for travel and was fortunate enough to take many adventures.  He spoke fondly of his road trips.  When he retired, he and Lavon took a 3 month adventure, stopping at many of the national parks in the west.  This trip completed visiting all 50 states for him.  The next adventure was going down-under to Australia.  He enjoyed cruising which included multiple Caribbean cruises; cruising the Rhine, Mein, and Danube Rivers; Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden.

A memorial service will be at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 6th, at Ascension Lutheran Church with Pastor Bernie Ansorge officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in his memory to The National WWII Museum, 945 Magazine St., New Orleans, LA 70130 (nationalww2 museum.org), or to Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum & Visitor Center, 1845 Wasp Blvd., #176, Honolulu, HI 96818 (www.pearlharbormemorial.com)

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