Christa Rosa Matthews, nee Schlaepfer, 87, passed away peacefully on March 23,
2024 at her home in Leesburg, Virginia surrounded by family.
Born in Celle, Germany on January 20, 1937 to Wilhelm and Anita Schlaepfer, she was the
second of five children. She had happy memories of her early childhood in the quaint
farming village of Wolthausen, Germany, surrounded by a large extended family of
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The family became refugees following the
bombing of their home, near a strategic bridge, by German forces attempting to delay
the Allied advance. She immigrated to Switzerland, her grandfather's homeland, with
her parents and siblings in 1945.
Arriving in Switzerland with the help of the Red Cross, the family spent time in a
quarantine camp near Zurich and in a series of temporary placements before being
offered employment running a hotel and summer camp at the Schwimbad in Trogen, a
picturesque mountain village in Appenzell. Christa spent her formative years in
Switzerland working to help her parents run the hotel and concessions there, where
they hosted locals at the swimming pool and dozens of children and teachers every
summer for camp.
Bright and a quick learner with a gift for languages, she attended the regional
Kantonschule in Trogen. Typical of the time, her schoolwork included classes in
needlework and home economics. Wanting more than the life of a Swiss housewife,
she set her sights on working for Swissair, which required fluency in German, French
and English. While she was fluent in German and Schweizer-Deutsch, the Swiss
dialect, she worked in a bakery in St Croix, Switzerland for a year to perfect her French
and went to Harrogate, England in 1962 as an au pair to learn English. It was in
England, at a fundraising dance in the church hall of St. Wilfrid's, that she met David
Matthews, a handsome young American soldier stationed at Menwith Hill. It was love
at first sight and, after a brief courtship, they became engaged in the summer of 1963.
On December 7, 1963, Christa, an immigrant once again, flew to the United States for
the first time, to marry David and to be welcomed with open arms by his family.
She was an accomplished cook and baker who took pleasure in perfecting the classics
and trying new recipes, an exacting and detail-oriented seamstress and knitter, a
devoted gardener who tended extensive flowerbeds and vegetable gardens, and a keen
observer of nature. She loved to sew clothes for her family, including prom and
wedding dresses for her daughters. She knit beautiful sweaters, scarves, hats, mittens
and blankets for her immediate and extended family over the years, many of which are
still treasured possessions.
She put her impressive sewing skills to work running her own curtain making and
upholstery business in Leesburg. Once she and David retired, they spent many happy

years traveling throughout the western United States, abroad to Europe, the Caribbean,
and South America, and to Illinois and Florida to visit their children and grandchildren.
Christa is predeceased by her beloved husband, David Matthews, and brothers Wilhelm
and Kurt Schlaepfer. She is survived by two daughters, Alexandra Towell and Caroline
Wade, son-in-law Paul Towell, and five grandchildren: Avery Steen, Casey Steen,
Cameron (Erin) Towell, Selena Wade and Laura Towell; a sister, Jutta (Hans) Locher, a
brother Ueli (Rita) Schlaepfer, and twenty nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Blue Ridge Hospice.