ERMA

Erma Rosenhan is a frequent quest on the International Services floor at the Family History Library.  She is there  three days a week researching family names.  This is not too extraordinary in and of itself.  There are many guests who do the same.  The difference -- Erma just turned 101 on February 28th.   She has done the family history work for over 400,000 of her German ancestors.

 

We had a nice celebration at the library for her and served a pot luck lunch (she often joins us in our break room for lunch when she is at the library).  The fun thing is that on that day, celebrating her 101st birthday, she brought all of us a present.  She gave each of us a full sized candy bar with a note attached that said, "THANK YOU. You make my heart SMILE." with a heart and her signature.

She has a connection with President Uchtdorf, and he came to the Family History Library to sing Happy Birthday to her on her 99th and her 100th birthdays.  He was on assignment so he was unable to sing to her this year.

 

Below is a picture from last year.

 

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, with his wife, Sister Harriet Uchtdorf, greets Erma Rosenhan at a celebration of her 100th birthday at the Family History Library. Sister Rosenhan turned 100 on February 28.  Photo by Gerry Avant.

 

Sister Rosenhan, who served a mission in Germany before being evacuated at the start of World War II, spoke to President Uchtdorf in German. “You still speak perfect German,” he told her.

He presented her with a copy of one of his books, Sister Eternal, in which he writes of how an elderly single woman in Germany introduced his grandmother to the gospel. President and Sister Uchtdorf wrote a note to Sister Rosenhan. “We’ll write another [note] at 200 years,” he quipped.

Erma is the sweetest lady, and you would never suspect her to be 101.  She walks a little slowly and is a little hard of hearing, but then the same could be said of 3/4 of the missionaries in the Family History Library.  She is an inspiration and a joy to be around.