Christine Weisfelder

Chris' life was an international adventure. She was born in Washington DC in 1942. When five years old, she, her mother and father, Catherine and Anders Johansson, sister, Bea and brother, Andy moved to Sweden. Chris learned Swedish so well that she had trouble pronouncing English sounds when they returned to the US. In the mid-1950s they all moved to Chile where tragedy struck when her father died in an automobile accident. Chris spent a gap year after high school in Gothenburg, Sweden where she lived with the Ahlstroms who became her foster family with whom she bonded for the rest of her life. Back in the US, she graduated from the University of North Carolina and then moved to Cambridge, MA. for a new adventure. In October 1966 she accepted a blind date to the Boston Symphony with Dick Weisfelder who had just returned from two years of research in Lesotho in southern Africa. A year later they were married and moved to Athens, OH where he taught at Ohio University. While in Athens she mothered sons, Philip and Carl, and completed her MBA specializing in accounting. She swiftly passed her CPA and CMA exams. After moving to Toledo in 1975, Chris taught accounting for three years at Adrian College. She and Dick embraced the opportunity to return to Africa in 1978 where he taught at the University of Botswana for three years. Chris made the most of the experience working as an auditor for Price Waterhouse with clients ranging from banks and small businesses to a small weaving cooperative with no electricity. Goats nearly ate her papers! Our family experienced the beauty and diversity of southern African landscapes and wildlife and the hospitality of the people of Botswana and Lesotho. Tragedy had struck when her mother, Catherine died in a car accident and her brother, Andy, succumbed to cancer. Visits to family in Sweden became even more important. Back in the US Chris taught accounting at the University of Toledo. When she tired of constantly teaching the basic courses, she began working on her Ph.D. in international business at the University of Michigan and earned that degree in 1991. Luckily opportunity beckoned nearby at BGSU where she taught internationally oriented business courses, especially in the executive MBA program. Her research and interest in the case study method resulted in professional presentations at conferences in Ireland, Korea, and Germany among others. She led groups of students to Hungary and the Soviet Union. She also became active in Toledo Sister Cities International, leading and participating in trips to Lebanon, Tanzania, Botswana and Zambia. She was Volunteer Chairperson when TSCI hosted the Sister Cities International Annual Conference in 2002 attended by 600 participants. At a Woman's Day event at the Inverness Club in 2008, she was recognized as the Ohio International Woman of the Year. Chris served several terms as TSCI treasurer and eventually became its president in 2012. Upon her retirement from teaching after 2000, visits to her house on the Swedish west coast became an annual pilgrimage with family and friends joining us frequently. Chris especially enjoyed the tours in southern Africa that Dick organized for groups of retirees. Over the years we diversified our destinations, including sister Bea's B&B in Tobago, an excursion through Japan, rediscovery of Chile and a visit to our sister city, Toledo, Spain. She flourished on our many Windstar cruises in areas as different as Iceland, Indonesia, the Canary Islands, Oman and through the Aleutian Islands from Japan to Alaska. She especially loved our Canadian Thanksgiving visits to her niece Sarah near Ottawa where we celebrated with sister Bea and her husband Win. What commanded her attention in the past decade was participation in Maumee Rotary and her roles on the Board of the D.O.V.E. Fund. She became fascinated by the values and activities of that organization, founded by Vietnam veterans, to improve the lives of the Vietnamese people and especially children. She prepared a history detailing its achievements and honoring the people who made D.O.V.E. projects possible through their hard work. She had hoped to accompany the group traveling to Vietnam to view the progress of those projects. Most important of all, Chris was totally committed to her families here and in Sweden. She adored her five grandchildren, Matthew, Jonathan, Holly, Justin and Greta. She was proud of the many achievements of her sons, Philip and Carl, and their respective spouses, Melissa and Denise. She loved her lifelong relationship with her sister, Bea Sargent, and husband, Win, and with their children and grandchildren. She cherished our long-term relationship with our close friend, Hydie Ralston, and with countless other friends who supported her over the years and especially at the end. In Sweden, she remained especially close to Gunnar Ahlstrom and Kisse Sjölander, her much loved foster brother and sister, but those relationships also extended to their spouses, children and grandchildren. She valued her deep friendships with so many others in Sweden that mentioning some would wrongly exclude others. Chris warded off B cell lymphoma for 19 years but suffered devastating side effects from a chemo drug that led to multiple systemic issues. However, she remained bright and optimistic until just before her death. She died peacefully with her husband, Dick, at her side on September 9, their 56th wedding anniversary. A visitation celebrating her life will be held from 2-5 P.M. on Sunday, November 5, 2023 at Coyle Funeral Home, 1770 S. Reynolds Road. In lieu of flowers, donations in Chris' memory should be given to the D.O.V.E. Fund, the Toledo Symphony or the Ohio Living Foundation: Swan Creek. Please leave a condolence message for the family at CoyleFuneralHome.com.

Tributes

Christine Weisfelder

August 12, 1942 - September 9, 2023