Waltraud "Trudy" Haslau

Waltraud “Trudy” Haslau, 99, of Indianapolis, Indiana, passed away on December 21, 2024. She was born on February 27, 1925, in Kiel, Germany. Her parents and sister died in World War II. She came to the United States with her husband, Horst, in 1959. She lived in New Jersey until 1968 when she moved to Indianapolis. In Indianapolis, she began a career as a caregiver which continued for 25 years.

She began a new phase in her life in 1998 when, newly divorced at the age of 75, she accelerated her English speaking and driving skills and learned to manage her own finances. She created her own herbal and homeopathic treatments to complement what her doctors told her. She loved the water, especially the Baltic Sea where she grew up and the coast of Maine where she vacationed frequently.

Trudy stayed busy, taking her last boxing class at the age of 90 and using the treadmill at age 99. She stayed busy fixing up her apartment and staining her kitchen cabinets at age 94. She kept an eye out for feral cats living near the Monon Trail, building a shelter to protect them from the winter weather. In her later years, she was perfectly content to be by herself in her home, creating needlepoint, jigsaw puzzles, and communicating with her cherished friends and relatives.

Trudy “seized rainbows” as she would say, and inspired everyone she met with her joyful and positive spirit.