Irmela "Amy" Monette

Amy was born at the German Hospital in London England to Elfriede Rothenbuecher of Germany and Ravul Lusk of England. She grew in Germany during and after WWII amid the restoration. They were so poor that her mother even had to put her in an orphanage for a while. Her mother married a man named Josef Sydor and he adopted Amy in 1940. He died in 1943. She had two half-brothers, Jurgen and Guido and one half-sister, Sonja. She held various jobs as a teenager and young adult during which she also earned a degree in Business. She also had some medical training. She met her husband, Kenneth Monette, an American Soldier in Augsburg Germany in 1958. She had her first child, a boy named Ralph Christopher in August 1959. He died of crib death in December of that same year. She gave birth to a girl named Sharon in September 1960 in Augsburg. Sharon died in 2012. In April 1961 they moved to the Yuma Test Station in Yuma Arizona. Six months later they moved again to Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis Indiana where a daughter, Audrey was born in July of 1962. Sandra Kay was born in April 1965. Unfortunately, Sandy died from a bowel obstruction three months later. After a brief visit to her mother in Germany, she moved to Savannah Georgia for a couple of years. While Ken served in Vietnam, she moved to Albuquerque New Mexico to be close to his immediate family which consisted of his parents and nine siblings. She then packed up everything again and drove across the country to South Carolina with her girls in tow. From 1968 to 1973 she lived in Mannheim Germany. On July 29, 1972 she gave birth to a 10-pound, 8-ounce baby boy named Anthony in Heidelberg. He died in 2006. His death probably hit her the hardest because they were so emotionally close. Upon completion of Ken's tour in Germany, they lived in Clinton Iowa and then moved to Savannah Illinois from '73 to '76. Their last tour of duty was again in Germany from '77 to '79. Each time they moved it was her responsibility to clean up the residence in adherence to the rigorous standards of passing a military inspection and to pack up everything to go at the specified time. She got to be very good at regimenting the circumstances involving all the moves. Ken retired from service at the end of 1979 at which time they moved back to Albuquerque where, except for the occasional visit to Europe and a few trips across the country, she stayed for the rest of her life. Although Irmela was her given name, she told people to call her Amy because she liked that name better. That is just one example of her fiercely individualistic nature. She loved to walk night and day. Even after she was stabbed 48 times during one of her morning walks in 2003, she refused to curtail her routine and just as soon as she was able, she continued to walk for miles almost every day for the rest of her life! After a little initial assistance with a few incidentals when her husband of 56 years died in 2015, she took control of her life and was completely independent for its duration. She was determined to live life on her terms and took great pride in her independence and resourcefulness. Amy enjoyed listening to a variety of genres and periods of music and was also a voracious reader of many a diverse subject matter. She was intellectually curious about nearly everything. She even took an auto mechanics class! She earned her GED in 1983. German was her first language, but she also was fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish. Amy was also very kind, generous, and compassionate. Although she lived on a fixed/lower income, she still managed to consistently donate what she could to various charities like Joy Junction and Boys Town. She even sponsored children through UNICEF or World Vision. Although her hearing wasn't very good towards the end, she was still quite engaging and could make friends with just about anyone. She was a complex and exceptional human being who experienced a lot of hardships, but she always managed to maintain a positive attitude. She was super-smart, strong-willed, courageous, out-going, humorous and a bit eccentric. At her best she was incredibly warm and loving. Amy was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and four of her five children. She is survived by her daughter Audrey (husband Vernon), four grandchildren, Adam, Andrew, Rachel and Jonathan, two great-grandchildren, Luna and Charlotte, sister Sonja, brother Jurgen, four sisters-in-law and two brothers-in-law. Amy's ashes will be interred with her husband's at the Santa Fe National Cemetery on Friday, February 28, 2020 at 9 AM. I know she would be very pleased if you were to make a memorial donation to Joy Junction or any charity in lieu of flowers. Arrangements entrusted to: Riverside Funeral Home of Albuquerque 225 San Mateo Blvd NE (505) 764-9663