Mrs. Hedy Billmayer was born Hedwig Huegel in Sibiu, Romania on October 24, 1926. She was preceded in death by her parents Martin and Maria Huegel, her sisters Luise and Elli, and her brothers Rudolph and Gustav, and her husband of 42 years, Hanns Leopold Billmayer.
Her parents’ German heritage led to her being taken prisoner at age 17 in 1945, where she was forced to work in a Russian labor camp until her release in 1947 into a German refugee camp. With her homeland now behind the Iron Curtain, she would not see her parents again until 1963.
She met her future husband in August 1955 in Stuttgart, Germany. They were married on December 28, 1957 – a few months before moving to Huntsville, Alabama, where her husband began working for NASA, and where Hedy would later proudly acquire her U.S. citizenship.
With the marriage came her husband’s children, Hanns-Joerg, Bernd, and Gisela, and in 1959 she gave birth to her daughter Monika.
Hedy was a founding member of All Saints Lutheran Church in Huntsville. She was an incredibly resilient, proud, resourceful, gentle, loving, and kind woman, mother, and wife. Loved by all who knew her, she was particularly admired for her knitting, baking, and cooking skills.
She is survived by children, Hanns J. Billmayer and wife, Veneta, Bernd Billmayer and wife Jennifer Tarkington Billmayer, Gisela Billmayer, and Monika Hemenway and husband, Chet Hemenway (deceased). Her grandchildren are Hedi Hemenway, Trey “Chet” Hemenway and wife, Ashley, Stefan Billmayer and wife Betsy, Hanns Billmayer and wife, Angela, Justin Billmayer and wife, Erin, and Rebecca (Billmayer) Renfroe and husband, Gabriel, and Joseph M. Bagwell (deceased). Her great-grand-children are Aria, Hanns, Ethan, Eric, Alex, and Nick.
Pallbearers are Hanns Billmayer, Stefan Billmayer, Gabriel Renfroe, Justin Billmayer, Trey “Chet” Hemenway, and Jordan Mooney.
Visitation will be from 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday, April 2, 2018 at Laughlin Service
Funeral Home, followed by the service at 2 p.m., and internment at Maple Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to “Clicking for a Cause” – Huntsville Hospital Foundation, 801 Clinton Avenue, Huntsville, Al. 35801.
