Irmgard Cottingham

Irmgard Therese Schorn Cottingham peacefully left this world and was welcomed into her heavenly home by our Lord and Savior on May 11, 2025. Mrs. Cottingham was fondly called Gran Gran by her grandchildren and family members. Friends usually called her Irmgard.

Irmgard was born on August 18, 1926 to Wilhelm Schorn and Elisabeth Wilhelmine Schauff in Aachen, Germany, a city on the Belgium-German border.

She is survived by her three loving daughters: Mariele Elizabeth Cottingham Fischer (married to Robert “Bob” Kirby Fischer), with children Dorothy “Elizabeth” Fischer Gibbs and Robert “Rob” Anthony Fischer (grandchildren Walsh and Anne Roberts); Anita Therese Cottingham Brown (married to George “Randy” Randolph Brown), with children Scarlotte Ann Brown Vaughn (grandchildren Tripp, Georgia, and Thomas), Lindsey Gardner Brown Priester (grandchildren Gardner and Tap), and George Randolph Brown Jr. (grandchildren Chip, Huey, and Bo); and Belinda Cottingham Gordon (married to Mark Edward Gordon), with children Hollyann Katelyn Gordon Thomas and Mark Christopher Gordon.

She was preceded in death by her husband Marcus Carl Cottingham and sister Gudula “Jutta” Kalinowski.

Irmgard was a devout Catholic. She was a long-time member of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Auburn, Alabama.

Irmgard was a devoted mother, grandmother, animal lover and phenomenal cook. She could best be described as loving, kind, courageous, strong-willed and full of wisdom from lifelong experiences.

She was in Aachen, Germany when World War II started in 1939. After the bombing of her hometown Aachen in Germany, she and her mother fled into Belgium. She was chosen by the refugees on the ranch to surrender to the Americans. On her 18th birthday, she waved a little white handkerchief in front of the big American tank to let them know they surrendered. After 1945 and the “Battle of the Bulge”, she worked for the first American government as an interpreter with General Eisenhower and General Patton in Aachen, Germany. In 1952, she married and sailed to America on the ship “The Vulcania” from Genoa, Italy. Shortly after they settled down in Opelika, Alabama where Marcus grew up with his family.

She will be greatly missed, but we have faith that she is in the arms of our Lord and Savior and we will see her again.

Serving as pallbearers are: George Brown, Rob Fischer, Mark C. Gordon, Tyler Priester, Dale Vaughn and Tripp Vaughn.

Visitation for family and friends will be held from 11:00-12:00 at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Auburn, AL on Thursday May 15, 2025. The funeral Mass will begin at 12:00 officiated by Rev. Msgr. Michael L. Farmer. The burial will be held directly after Mass at the Garden Hill Cemetery in Opelika, Alabama. Afterwards, a luncheon reception will be held back at the church.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Irmgard’s memory may be made to the Lee County Humane Society or Woof Avenue Rescue in Auburn, Alabama.