Mine Hill, Margit Marie Ebner, Kitty, as she was known by her close friends and family, went home on December 27, 2014 at age 87. Born and raised in Jagerndorf, Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia), Kitty and her mother, sister, and brother became displaced persons after WWII when Sudetenland was restored to Czechoslovakia, and the Czechs rousted the Germans out of their country.

During the desperate times of World War II Kitty’s family hid a Jewish family from the Nazis and saved their lives, while risking their own.  This was a difficult period, and often a meal was simply grass soup prepared by her mother and shared by her brother and sister; but they survived against the odds.

Kitty’s father, an officer in the German army in Russia, was spared the atrocities inflicted upon his wife and children.  Eventually, Kitty was relocated to Schweinfurt, Germany, where serendipitously one day she met her husband to be,  Army Air Corps Sergeant Albert (Abbie) Ebner on a bus.  After a two year courtship they were married.  Not once – but three times.  First by the Mayor of the town; some days later in Church and lastly by the Army Chaplain in order for Kitty to be allowed to emigrate to America with her husband.

Emigrate to the US she did.  In 1948.  Kitty settled in Mine Hill, then one year later moved to Wharton and finally to Mine Hill, where she lived for the past 58 years.  She became a valued employee at the Carson Gebel Ribbon Mill in Dover and then at the laboratory at Warner Chilcott in Morris Plains.  A former member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Kitty served as Worthy Matron of Pearl Chapter #79, Dover, NJ in 1967.  Kitty is also a lifetime member of Deborah.

Profoundly influenced by the atrocities perpetrated against the Jews, Kitty proudly converted to Judaism in 1981.

Kitty is survived by her loving husband of 66 years – Abbie – her loving “adopted” son Ronald Regen of Rockaway, her loving “adopted” daughters Susan Lundeen of Mine Hill, and Nancy Strutin of Rockaway, loving “adopted” brother Harold Morris of Dover, and the loving Orlando Largo family of Wharton.

Friends may visit at the Davis & Hepplewhite Funeral Home, 96 Main Street, Succasunna 973-584-7264 (davishepplewhitefh.com) on Monday from 2-6 pm, with a Prayer Service at 5 pm. We will leave from the Funeral Home on Tuesday 10:15 am to go to the Somerset Hills Mausoleum, Mt. Airy Road, Basking Ridge, NJ for a 10:45 Entombment Service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Kidney Foundation and/or St Jude’s Children’s Hospital, and/or Deborah.