Margitta Zessin Bratlie

Margitta Z. Bratlie July 28th, 1938 – March 8th, 2024. Margitta Bratlie, age 85, died on March 8th, 2024 at Arbor Terrace Hamilton Mill in Dacula, GA, a wonderful community she has called “home” for the past 8 years.

She was born Margitta Angelika Gudrun Zessin in Buchenstein (Kr. Stolp), Germany, in the region of Pomerania, (now Poland today), to Gerhard and Käthe Zessin. She was the oldest of 4 girls growing up on a farm just as World War II was beginning. During the war her two youngest sisters, as well as her father, died. After the war she became a virtual prisoner in her own home as Germany was forced to give up land to Poland as a result of losing the war. Her home was now owned and occupied by a Polish family, and she was forced to work for them on a farm her family once owned.

Eventually her mother sought permission from the local government to leave and took her two daughters and fled to East Germany where they awaited her father’s return from the front. After later learning that her father had died on his way back home, and was buried in another town, her mother having saved enough money, hired someone to sneak them across the East/West line of Germany to join family members in the West. Unfortunately, she only had enough money for two people, so Margitta’s mother and younger sister went over while Margitta was left in the care of her ailing grandmother. One year later, having saved enough money of their own, Margitta and her grandmother hired the same man to sneak them across the border to join her mother, sister, and other family members in West Germany.

In 1956, at the age of 18, with Germany still early in the recovery efforts after the war, her Great Uncle and Great Aunt (Reinhold & Herta Zessin of Cincinnati, OH) visited from America. They offered to take her back with them for a couple of years to lessen the short term financial strain that everyone in Germany was experiencing during the recovery after the war. Knowing only 50 words of English she boarded a ship for America and came to live in Cincinnati, OH where she later met her husband Ernie at a youth group gathering at their local Lutheran Church.

She and Ernie married shortly thereafter. After Margitta completed her immigration and citizenship classes, she was granted her U.S. Citizenship. After a number of different residences in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Brussels, Belgium, and New Jersy, she and Ernie settled in Monroe, OH, where they raised their three sons. She was so proud of her sons, Kurt, a Special Agent in CID (Criminal Investigation Division) of the US Army and later a Federal Air Marshal in Homeland Security, Mark, an Electrical Engineer and walk-on kicker for the Ohio State Buckeyes, later a manager in Fortune 500 Companies, and David, a Materials Science Engineer working in the Steel Industry, and later a seminary graduate serving as a pastor for the last 20 years.

She and Ernie loved the Lord and served in churches everywhere they lived. Their love for music and singing found them joining the choir, also serving on committees, leading Sunday School classes, and telling others about Jesus whenever they could. They raised their three sons to love the Lord and celebrated seeing what God was doing in their lives.

When Ernie died in 2005, Margitta was comforted in knowing that he was in Heaven with Jesus and that one day she would join him there. She continued to explore her faith and grew closer to Jesus in her later years. She would describe her life as, “very blessed”.

Her family is likewise comforted knowing that she is no longer suffering but is filled with joy as she is in the presence of her Savior and once again reunited with Ernie. She would definitely encourage you to follow Jesus so that one day you can experience what she is experiencing now.

Margitta is survived by a younger sister, Gundula (Karl-Heinz) Ingenfeld of Grevenbroich, Germany, her three sons, Kurt (Katie) Bratlie of Dacula, GA, Mark Bratlie of Wyoming, MI, and David (Shawna) Bratlie of Pittsville, WI, and two nieces, Ilona Klöcker of Grevenbroich, Germany, and Claudia (Klaus) Ginter of Grevenbroich, Germany. She is also survived by four grandchildren, Mackenzie (Lukas) Amstutz, Andrew (Abigail) Bratlie, Jacob Bratlie, and Maria Bratlie. She was preceded in death by her parents, Gerhard and Käthe Zessin, two sisters Helga and Marlies, as well as a stepfather, Josef Kaptur of Grevenbroich, Germany, her husband of 43 years, Ernest H. Bratlie, Jr., and a grandson, Joseph Bratlie.

The family wishes to express their extreme gratitude for the love and professional care shown to our mom through her years at Arbor Terrace and by Agape Hospice Care. A memorial service and celebration of life will be held at Zion Lutheran Church, 10 N. Breiel Blvd, Middletown, OH on April 20, 2024, at 11AM. Visitation from 9AM – 11AM.