Carmen Reddig

On March 9, 2022, Carmen Mae (Steininger) Reddig, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, colleague, mentor, and friend died in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. Born in 1928, Carmen was a member of "the Greatest Generation," especially recognized for their personal responsibility, integrity, and work ethic. Most of the women in her mother's generation were expected to assume virtually all of the responsibilities of homemaking and of raising children while many women in her daughters' generation sought careers. She somehow gave a hundred percent effort to both roles. Growing up during the Great Depression, Carmen's family moved often as her father sought work. Rural rents were less expensive, so she was sometimes educated in one-room schoolhouses where she learned all of her grade level work and that of the grades above hers so that at age 11, with the encouragement of her teacher, she took and passed the 9th grade entrance exam to attend Ephrata High School. She was known thereafter as the baby of her class and graduated as valedictorian a few weeks after her 16th birthday in 1944. Although she was offered a scholarship, the other expenses of going to college were beyond the families' means, and she was too shy to consider the main career (teaching) open to women in that time period. Instead, she applied her generation's work ethic to clerking in Harris's Department Store in Ephrata, then working at the Ephrata National Bank (during the Harry Hibshman era,) then at the Ephrata Sears store in the Royer building where she met her future husband, Charles, to whom she was married for more than 70 years. Carmen continued working in the auditing depart of Sears when it moved to Lancaster, but when Sears moved to Park City, she applied to work in the business office of the Ephrata Area School District handling payroll, census, and numerous other tasks. Her last career change was becoming a field agent for the Public School Employees' Retirement System for the southeast region of the state. After counseling thousands of retirees and conducting numerous retirement seminars, she retired in 1990. As a retiree, she took on the raising of two grandchildren, sewed 1400 comforters for Lutheran World Relief, made thousands of new greeting cards from used cards, cancelled stamps, and calendars (giving all the proceeds from selling them at craft shows to her church,) and annually helped dozens of people fill out their income tax returns. Carmen was the epitome of altruism, always putting the needs of others ahead of her own needs. She shared her time, her skills, and her material goods with others as needs arose. Her death leaves a gap in the lives of many people. Carmen was preceded in death by her parents Charles and Minnie Steininger; three brothers: Max, Ben, and James; her husband Charles Reddig; her son James Charles Reddig; and a grandson Michael Reddig. She is survived by her sister Judy (John) Royer, Denver and a brother Rodney Steininger, Akron; her daughters Vicki (Bernd) Maassen of Germany, and Connie (John) Kirby of Lititz; grandsons Mark and Kevin Maassen of Germany, James (Laura) Reddig of NYC, and granddaughter Dru (Jerad) Heming of Myrtle Beach, SC. A celebration of life service will be held Saturday March 26 at 10 a.m. at Salem Lutheran Church, 1331 West Main Street, Ephrata, where Carmen was a member for over 75 years. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions should be directed to Salem Lutheran Church.