Anneliese Wilhelmine Brott

Published 3:35 pm Thursday, January 4, 2024

Anneliese Wilhelmine Brott, aged 98, passed away on December 27, 2023 in Hoover Alabama, after a decline in health for several months. She was born in 1925, in Brechhoven, Germany to Friedrich Langenbach, a schoolteacher, and Caroline (Weber) Langenbach.

Anneliese grew up in Neuwied, a city on the Rhine River in Germany. A lasting tragedy in her life was the loss of her beloved mother Caroline when she was 12 years old, coupled with the horrors of World War II during her teenage years.

After the war, Anneliese majored in English at the University of Heidelberg and then received a Master’s degree there as a translator/interpreter of English and French into German. She worked briefly as a translator for the Americans in occupied Germany, and then, upon the death of her father, she traveled to New Jersey, United States where her aunt and uncle lived.

After taking several translating jobs in various parts of the United States, Anneliese worked in Chicago, Illinois as a technical translator for the patent law firm of Hibben, Noyes, and Bicknell. There, she met and married a handsome young lawyer, Donald Brott, the love of her life, who predeceased her in 2017. They raised their three children in Winnetka, Illinois, later moving to the suburb of Wauconda.

Anneliese was a compulsively creative and artistic person whose talents included painting, needlework, knitting, pottery making, printmaking, and silversmithing. Her lovely homes were filled with the artwork of herself and others. She was an avid gardener and was able to make anything green grow.

Anneliese’s main happiness in life, however, was her family, to whom she was fiercely devoted. She leaves two daughters, Brigitta Brott and Barbara Brott; a son, Lawrence Brott; and three grandchildren, Luke, Christina, and Caroline.

The family will greet friends on Wednesday, January 10, 2023 at First United Methodist Church of Alabaster, Alabama from 12 noon to 1 p.m., followed by A Service of Remembrance for Anneliese at 1 p.m. at the church. The burial will be in the Spring in Wisconsin.