Ursula Berta Coby

Ursula Berta Coby passed away peacefully on April 10, 2019 at the age of 89.  She had long been battling dementia and now her warrior soul has taken time to rest.  Born on May 9, 1929 in Marienburg, Germany, Ursula was an only child and spent her youth in the small village of Streckfuss, and eventually relocated to the city of Bamberg at the end of WWII.  In 1959 while still living in Germany she met and married Army Sergeant First Class John Everett Smith.  The two were blessed with beautiful daughters, Patricia Ann and Janis Sue.  When she moved to the United States, Ursula gave herself the middle name Berta, after one of her favorite aunts who had perished in the war.  She was not given a middle name at birth and she found that “everyone here has middle names”.  As her own personal declaration of independence, and acceptance of her new American life, she loved this new addition to herself.  In 1965 she proudly became a U.S. citizen.  Then in 1974 she married Alton Wesley Coby and they celebrated 22 years of marriage until Alton’s death in 1996.  A lover of gardening, cooking, sewing, knitting, travelling, and ballroom dancing, Ursula moved to the rhythm of her heart.  She had called the Tacoma area home since 1968 and it was a beautiful backdrop to her love filled life.  She is survived by her daughter, Janis Smith, and goes to rest beside her husband Alton at Fir Lane Memorial Park in Spanaway. 

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