Caroline Stockhammer Obituary

Internment of Ashes Ceremony and Memorial services for Dr. Caroline Stockhammer, Ph.D., 92, Lawrence will be postponed, to be announced until a later date. She passed away Saturday, December 23, 2017 at Aldersgate Village in Topeka, KS.

Caroline was born October 20, 1925 in Bremen, Germany, the daughter of Hermann Rudolf and Theodore Marie (Brügmann) Brickenstein.

She published her Doctoral Thesis at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities of Munich, and received her Doctorate degree at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, summa cum laude, in the field of Zoology.

She married Karl A. Stockhammer on March 27, 1956 in Winterberg-Westphalia, Germany. He preceded her in death July 21, 2001.

Caroline was born in Bremen Germany and had her childhood there as well as in Winterberg-Westphalia, Germany. She met her husband Karl during studies in Munich and elsewhere in post-WWII Germany. They made for a striking couple; both had worked closely with Nobel Prize-winning Scientists Karl Von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz and as a couple shared a deep reverence and respect for Nature, a life-long love and devotion to one another as well as to their three children. Caroline crossed the ocean on the Queen Elizabeth II with her first two children in tow, to safely land in New York, NY, then to proceeded on to Lawrence, Kansas to join her husband as he started his teaching career of 33 years initiated by the Fulbright Scholar Exchange Program at the University of Kansas. Caroline was an extraordinary wife and mother, an accomplished Research Scientist, avid gardener, and artisan: Watercolor painting, Sewing, Cooking and Baking, needle arts including Intarsia, Fair Isle and Stranded Knitting, Crewel Embroidery, Counted Cross Stitch and Loom Beading-all these were included in the list of her many talents and pursuits, executed with great joy and thoughtfulness. Survivors include her children: Elisabeth Ballou, Topeka, Kurt Stockhammer, Lawrence, Christine Stockhammer (Karl Miller), Fair Oaks CA, former son-in-law Tom Ballou, Eskridge and former daughter in-law Lori Phillips, Lawrence; four loving grandchildren as well as many nieces and nephews; three brothers, Rudolf Brickenstein, Wolf Brickenstein, and Hans Joachim Brickenstein (Germany.) She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, Wilhelm and Peter Brickenstein (Germany.)

Memorial Contributions may be made in her name to: Lawrence Humane Society, Haskell University Women's Association, KU Department of Zoology, KU Department of Entomology, and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.

For more information or to post a condolence go to warrenmcelwain.com.