Brigitte Philipp

Brigitte (Schmahl) Philipp, of Osage, IA, passed into eternity and the presence of her Savior on April 8, 2026. She was born on May 29, 1940, to John and Lydia (Kilz) Schmahl in Belgrade, the capital city of former Yugoslavia. Her childhood home was in Zemun where her family, including her brother Hartmuth, lived with her maternal grandmother, Rosa (Raster) Kilz. After World War II, on Good Friday morning 1946, her father, John, was arrested by the Yugoslavian partisans and then her mother, brother, and Brigitte were all arrested for being ethnic Germans. They were transported with her father to a communist concentration camp.Their Yugoslavian citizenships were revoked. They and those incarcerated experienced horrible deprivations. John, upon learning of a plan on his life, was able to escape from his work detail and ended up in Salzburg.

While in the camp, Lydia found a Bible and would secretly meet with others to read and pray. Brigitte, only six years old, suffered from severe depression and homesickness. While in this desperation, God gave her a dream in which she saw herself in a beautiful garden with butterflies and flowers reaching to her waist. This gorgeous intervention refreshed her heart. She also miraculously survived pneumonia.

In the Spring of 1948, Tito, then president of Yugoslavia, broke relations with the Soviet Union and opened the camps. Brigitte, Hartmuth, and Lydia had been incarcerated for 22 months. Brigitte, her mother, and brother returned to Zemun to live with Oma Rosa until 1950. They then received permission to join John in Salzburg, Austria partially due to Lydia’s poor health. In 1953 their immigration quota number came up allowing them to immigrate to the US. The family moved to Charles City, IA. Lydia’s sister, Ilonka, and family lived there as they were sponsored by Congregational Church of Charles City. Brigitte attended and graduated from Charles City High School in 1958.Throughout her life, music was a passion. She was a violinist who had the honor of playing in Iowa’s All-State Orchestra and later, Brigitte served as the First Baptist Church choir director.

She attended nurses’ training at Coe College and St Luke’s Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in Cedar Rapids and graduated as an RN in 1961.

In July 1957, Brigitte met Roland Philipp in Charles City. He thought she was beautiful and they began to date. They were married on June 10, 1961, at First Baptist Church of Charles City. They made their home in Osage. Brigitte worked at the hospital there for 12 years. She held a special love for obstetrics.

Brigitte and Roland considered their five children - Steven, Douglas, Deborah, Timothy, and Andrew their biggest gifts in life. They were blessed with a joyful marriage for 64 years. As a homemaker, Brigitte loved and excelled at cooking and baking, often trying new recipes, gardening, sewing for her whole family and making several wedding dresses including her own, Deborah’s, and Cindy’s (daughter-in-law). Brigitte loved to travel. They took many family trips with a particular love of mountainous areas. After Roland became an over-the-road trucker, Roland and Brigitte saw much of the US. They also traveled to Europe, visiting Salzburg and family in Germany and Austria. During her lifetime, Brigitte learned five languages/dialects. Although Brigitte had attended church much of her life, it was not until she was 30 that she received Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She prayed, “Jesus, I give you what I have. Give me what you want me to have.” She sensed God’s love come over her. She continued to develop a personal relationship with Jesus all of her life. Brigitte encouraged many with God’s Word and daily, fervently prayed with and for others. She attended and volunteered in a variety of roles in a few churches in the local area, always with an eye out to who she could encourage, pray for, and bless.

The garden our Lord promised her when she was 6 became the life she would build: a life full of people she would love and who loved her, full of people she would serve and bless, full of adventures and meaningful work and hobbies, full of strength to persevere though the hardest of experiences, and full of grace from God to walk daily through them. She met the end of her earthly time with peace and faith as she concluded a life that is an example to us all and was defined by all of what Jesus gave her.

She is preceded in death by her parents, John and Lydia and her beloved sons, Andrew and Steven. She is survived by those blessed to have loved her: husband Roland, children Douglas, Deborah (Steve Randall), Timothy (Cindy), grandchildren Emily (Jordan Melcher), Joshua (Brieanna), Zachary (Ashlyn), Samuel (Achwor), Grace (Nick Lex), Peregrin, Benedict, Madeleine (Andrew Sikora), Rebecca Randall, Juliana Randall, great-grandchildren Liesel, Aliza, Benjamin, Baby Melcher, Kiara, Brooks, Haven, Samuel Jr, Saint, Miles, and her brother, Hartmuth (Marjorie).

A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, April 12, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at the Osage Life Church.

Hoff Celebrations - Champion Chapel of Osage is assisting the family with arrangements.