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Visitation -
Friday, February 7, 20145 - 8:30 pm
Stockbridge Funeral Home141 Epping RoadExeter, New Hampshire 03833
Christian Funeral Service -
Saturday, February 8, 2014Noon
Immanuel Lutheran Church673 Weston RoadManchester, New Hampshire
Interment -
Spring burial will be in the
Brentwood Cemetery
, Brentwood, NH.
The Dutzmann family would like to thank the following for their dedicated and compassionate care: Pastor Don Colageo and the members of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Manchester; the staff
of Rockingham County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center andErnest P. Barka Assisted Living Community, Brentwood; and Dan
Stockbridge, director of Stockbridge Funeral Home, Exeter.
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OBITUARIES
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Rolf J. Dutzmann
Rolf J. Dutzmann, 94, of Brentwood, NH, formerly of Kensington, died peacefully on Monday, January 27 with his wife, Lilo, and other family members at his side.
Rolf was born in Krefeld, Germany, son of the late Ernst Dutzmann, of Latvia, and his German-born wife, Maria. When Rolf was two years old, the family returned to Latvia. Rolf enrolled in aeronautical engineering studies at the University of Riga in the fall of 1939, but he and his family were forced to flee from Latvia back to Germany in December of that year, due to the impending Soviet takeover of Latvia.
Rolf met his future wife, Liselotte Wassull (Lilo), in 1940 Berlin. What followed became the stuff of legend—a love story spanning more than 70 years and two continents.
After finishing his aeronautical engineering education, Rolf was drafted into the Luftwaffe (the German airforce). The family homes of Rolf and Lilo in Berlin were both destroyed by Allied bombs. Despite the devastation and uncertainty of war, they were married in November 1944, but when they parted less than a week later, they knew they might never see each other again.
In April 1945, Rolf was taken prisoner of war and sent to a POW camp in the Rhineland. After searching in vain for many months, Lilo finally found Rolf in late 1945 and aided him in a daring escape.
A son, Ingo, was born to Rolf and Lilo in 1947. Thanks to a tiny farming community in northern Indiana, Rolf and Lilo obtained sponsorship for immigration to the U.S. En route to the U.S. in late 1951, Lilo gave birth to daughter, Marina, in Zurich, Switzerland. A second son, Roland, was born to Rolf and Lilo in Indiana in 1953.
In 1957, Rolf was hired by the Chrysler Missile and Space division near Detroit where he headed the team that designed and built components of the Saturn 1B rocket that were later used successfully in all of the Apollo moon missions.
After retirement in 1982, Rolf and Lilo moved to the Lakes Region of NH where Rolf led aerospace and rocketry workshops with hundreds of children in schools and summer camps for over three decades. Rolf enjoyed downhill and cross-country skiing, swimming, sailing, and hiking in the White Mountains. He was devoted to his wife, his family, and his faith. Rolf and Lilo were active members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Manchester, NH and previously of Trinity Lutheran Church in Utica, MI.
Rolf is survived by his wife, Lilo, his sons, Pastor Ingo Dutzmann and his wife, Daria, of MA and Roland Dutzmann and his wife, Lynda, of CO; his daughter Marina Dutzmann Kirsch and her husband, Helgard Kirsch, of NH; seven grandchildren; and four great grandchildren.
A Christian funeral service will be held at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 673 Weston Road, Manchester, NH on Saturday, February 8 at noon. Visitation will be from 5-8:30 pm on Friday, February 7 at the Stockbridge Funeral Home, 141 Epping Road, Exeter, NH. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Rolf’s memory to Immanuel Lutheran Church, 637 Weston Road, Manchester, NH 03103 or to Lutheran Camp Winni Scholarship Fund, c/o Ellen Bartlett, 161 Mason Street, Westbrook, ME 04092. Spring burial will be in the Brentwood Cemetery.
