Ute Stein

Ute Adele Anna Stein (born Maschmann) March 13, 1942, Hamburg, Germany- June 25th, 2024, Sarasota, Florida

 

Ute Stein was born in Nazi Germany in the city of Hamburg during WWII in 1942. Shortly after her birth, her mother evacuated from the bombed-out city to the safer countryside with her newborn daughter.  Ute didn't meet her father until she was 2 years old, as he was on the Russian front under the orders of Hitler. Her father was one of the few German soldiers to return from that long, disastrous, blood shedding and unwinnable campaign.  As a result of her past and heritage, Ute lived her life as a beacon of hope, peace, acceptance, humanity and love. She worked her whole life to make good for the past, as she would always say she was "born guilty".

 

Post war, Ute's parents were able to rebuild 2 of the family flower shop businesses in Hamburg. Ute was very good at her family's craft. In the mid 1960's, she won the award for the best floral arranger in Europe at a competition in Holland. Because of that, she was invited to come and work in Lausanne, Switzerland. While working in Switzerland, she met American medical student Theodore Dysander Stein, and they got married in 1967 in Hamburg's town hall. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Liege, Belgium, where Dr. Stein completed his medical degree, with much assistance from his new bride, and their only child, Jessika V. Stein, was born in 1969. In 1971, the family immigrated back to Miami Beach, Florida, where Dr. Stein's parents lived. Dr. Stein got a medical internship in Clearwater, Florida on Florida's Gulf Coast. During time off, the family traveled up and down Florida's west coast. They were driving through Sarasota, a town where Dr. Stein's cousin, Jay B. Starker had been living since 1959, and decided in 1972 to settle there. Dr. Stein established his medical practice in Sarasota in the early 70's. Ute was her husband's right arm and worked as her husband's assistant and office manager, serving the medical needs of many retired Ringling Circus acts. 

 

In 1981, the couple divorced, and Dr. Stein entered military service as a Major in the US Army and doctor for our troops in Munich, Germany at the McGraw Kaserne. Ute and her daughter remained in Sarasota where Ute became the floral designer for Burdines, while raising her daughter in their home on Siesta Key. Ute volunteered on the side at Tidewell Hospice and got her U.S. GED at Sarasota High School. Later she became an American Citizen, which was one of the proudest moments of her life. In the 90's she left Sarasota, to attend the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. She earned a Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Education at age 54. Shortly thereafter, she entered the Peace Core and served as a teacher in Costa Rica. Just recently, before her death, one of her students from the Costa Rican village she served came to visit her in Englewood, Florida. That was such a proud and wonderful time for her, seeing that she had made such a difference in the life of the underprivileged children in the village that she felt were a privilege to serve.

 

When it came time to retire, Ute returned to the village in Costa Rica where she served and was loved by everyone. In 2007, her only child had a baby boy, and she decided to return to Sarasota to help raise her only grandchild. She continued her volunteerism at Tidewell Hospice in Englewood, Florida and elsewhere when she moved from Sarasota to Englewood in 2004. 

 

Ute spent her life in the service of her adopted country, the United States, and all the world's people by making the world a better place. Learning from the past mistakes of her heritage, she led an extraordinary and admirable life that was a story of redemption and love. 

 

She leaves behind her beloved only child and daughter, Jessika V Arman-Valdivia, her grandson Luka Valdivia, and her son-law-in Alfredo Valdivia all of Sarasota. In addition, in her native Germany, she leaves her cousin Werner Ronnenberg, all his children and grandchildren, as well as her other deceased cousin Dieter Ronnenberg's, children and grandchildren. Fly high and free Ute, we will forever live by your example. You always said it was "in the doing" and did so much for us and world. Gratefully and with all the love in the world, your family.