PARTAIN, Ute Agnes Gisela
On March 21, 2024, God called home an angel when Ute Agnes Gisela (Reinsch) Partain passed away peacefully just shy of her 94th birthday. Ute was born in Berlin, Germany on May 10, 1930, the second daughter of Hertha (Neitzke) and Otto Reinsch.
From her early childhood until her late teens, Ute witnessed the terrifying rise of Nazism, the ravages of the second great World War, the savagery of the Soviet Army advance into Berlin, the partitioning of her home city, and the Berlin Airlift, a perilous Cold War standoff between the West and the increasingly aggressive Soviet Union.
At eight years old, looking from the bedroom window of her apartment near the Kurfurstendamm (Berlin's main avenue), Ute watched the horror of Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass), the Nazi pogrom against the Jews. It was around this time that her family learned that her father had lost his position as a government lawyer and had been charged for his refusal to cooperate with the Nazi antisemitic policies in his office. Miraculously, no further action was taken against him during those early days of the regime.
The family hid in the building's basement storage area during air raids, and her parents ultimately decided to send Ute to a school in Bavaria along with other children for her safety. Eventually, the Berlin home was completely bombed out, and her family made their way to their tiny summer cabin outside the city. Amid the chaos and panic as the Allies advanced in 1945, 15 year old Ute, believing she might not see her family again, traveled alone from Bavaria to the cabin, shocking and relieving her parents as she walked through the door.
Both jobs and food were scarce in the war's aftermath, and the municipal government was in tatters. Otto had kept documents proving he had been sacked by the Nazis, and so his principled pre-war stance and his government experience led to an administrative position in the newly formed Berlin government. This gave the family access to the limited housing that was available.
The war's end also allowed Ute to return to her education at the Freie Universitat of Berlin, where her scholastic excellence led to her earning a full academic scholarship from a Rotary Club to attend Duke University.
At 19 years old and once again traveling alone, Ute boarded a passenger ship bound for America, where she and another German student were warmly welcomed to the United States in an Oval Office friendship meeting with President Harry Truman.
Ute would earn her undergraduate degree in Economics from Duke University in 1952. During her last semester at Duke, Ute caught the eye of a classmate and ROTC candidate, Gene Partain. That was the beginning of a 64 year romance. Gene and Ute were married after graduation. America became her home, and she always proclaimed America, although not perfect, to be the greatest country in the world. She never lived in Germany again full time.
Shortly after marrying, Gene was deployed to Japan as a newly minted lieutenant during the Korean War. Ute remained with Gene's parents in Paragould, Arkansas, where she served as a teacher at the local public school. Upon Gene's military discharge, the couple moved to Evanston, Illinois and Northwestern University, where Gene earned a Master's Degree in Communications, and then on to Durham, NC for Gene to attend law school while Ute worked in the university library. The couple then moved to Atlanta and started a family, where Gene launched a legal career, becoming one of the country's renowned trial lawyers. Ute's love of learning continued unabated. She earned her Master's in Library Science from Emory University and became a librarian at The Westminster School in Atlanta.
While Gene's commitment to trial practice was legendary, it paled in comparison to his devotion to Ute, whom he simply adored. They shared a love of animals, music, art, decor, vocabulary, literature, and nature. Gene reveled in Ute's intellect, insatiable curiosity, and companionship, while Ute delighted in Gene's humor and hijinks. These were all traits they endowed in their two children, Gia and Matthew.
Family was the centerpiece of their marriage, where strong values and virtue were both honored and administered with a dose of light-heartedness. Ute's children and grandchildren loved their "Mamsy" and she was devoted to them and their well-being. Marathon card games at family gatherings featuring boasts, good humor, and music became a family tradition, whether it was in their Atlanta home or at Gene and Ute's mountain home in Highlands, NC, where Gene decompressed from the rigors of trial practice and Ute indulged herself in enjoying natural beauty. While there she served as a Board Member of the Hudson Library and as a volunteer at Highlands-Cashiers Hospital.
Ute was soft-spoken, kind and gentle in word and deed. Yet, she cautioned against the evils of extreme thought, was repulsed by discrimination in any form, and was suspicious of those agitating for military force as a substitute for democracy and diplomacy. She was all too familiar with what follows in the destructive wake of totalitarianism. Until her death, Ute kept close by a large black and white framed photo of Berlin in rubble, in order never to forget the insanity of war.
After her beloved Gene died in 2015, Ute's light was dimmed, but her innate goodness still shone even as she stepped from this world to the next.
Ute was predeceased by her parents; husband, Eugene G. Partain; sister, Dr. Ruth Seppeler and brother-in-law, Dr. Claus Seppeler; her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Lt. Gen. Edward A. Partain, (USA) his wife, Mary Frances Partain; and her nephew, Col. John D. Partain, USAF. She is survived by her daughter, Gia Michele Partain, and her husband, Paul J. Murphy; and her son, Matthew Reinsch Partain, and his wife, Yoke Ching Wong; and her grandchildren, Cara A. Murphy, Audrey E. Murphy, Kyle N.R. Partain, and Ian C.W. Partain; and her niece, Lisa Hampton; and nephew, Kai Seppeler.
A private family ceremony will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider a contribution to the Georgia Innocence Project, georgiainnocenceproject.org.
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