The Life of Gisela Steinhoff Ritchie

Gisela was born in Germany during WWII in a small town close to Swinemunde, a small coastal town that is now part of Poland, where the V2 rocket was developed. Her father, Ernst Steinhoff, was one of the top German scientists developing the rocket and his future formed much of her background. 

Back: Hannelore, Hans, Mother holding Ralph, Monika Front: Astrid, GISELA.

At the end of the war, many of the Allies wanted the scientists to immigrate to their country for their own nation’s benefit (Russia even had a price on her father’s head). 

Gisela at a birthday party

Her father and most of the other scientists chose the USA as their ideal immigration homeland.  When Gisela was two years old, her family was smuggled into the US via El Paso and housed (say interred) at Fort Bragg for a couple years until an Act of Congress made them citizens.

Gisela was the middle child of the seven children in their large family with three brothers and three sisters.  Their basic “home base” was a farm in Alamogordo, NM although they lived in many parts of the country as they followed their father’s career.  As the children got older, some of the siblings were “left behind” in
various cities as they started adulthood.  Gisela stayed behind in Bel Air/Santa Monica, CA. 

Gisela attended UC, Riverside (UCR) for a semester before dropping out due to a lack of funds and started working as a teller in the Bank of America.  While at UCR, she met Paul Ritchie, her future husband (although a real jerk then, Paul eventually straightened out and got smart enough to ask for her hand in marriage…who knows what she saw in him to stick by him until he smartened up is anybody’s guess).  After Paul graduated UCR, he got a job as a computer programmer, a brand new type of job then. This encouraged Gisela to take an aptitude test, which she aced, to be trained as a programmer for the bank…at a significant increase in salary (so, why are Gisela and Paul’s children career computer experts?).  

Gisela and Paul dated casually for four years until he finally asked for her hand in marriage and they were married on September 28, 1967 in Pacific Palisades.  For the next 20-25 years they made their home in San Diego, where they raised their two children, Robin and Colin. 

Other than their beautiful and wonderful children, the most notable and life changing event during this period was their attendance at a Catholic Marriage Encounter (“ME”) weekend.  Both Gisela and Paul were non-Christians at the time (Gisela a “maybe” Christian…Paul mostly agnostic) so it was kind of scary…but a wonderful experience for them.  After the weekend they joined into some of the post-weekend activities and started hanging out with these strange Christian people.  They both noticed and envied the special “something” that was a daily part of these people’s lives that they were lacking, specifically a faith in and an acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 

Gisela's marlin, caught on a trip to La Paz, Mexico

Their increased yearning for this “something” they were so obviously missing in their lives allowed them to open up to God and eventually accept Him as Savior.  They both raised their hands in church saying they wanted Him in their lives on the same Sunday (in a Baptist church no less…the Catholic Monsignor that had been part of their ME weekend some somewhat disappointed that they had not joined the Catholic church…but happy for them regardless).  This decision totally changed their lives.  The Catholic ME community eventually and lovingly convinced them that they should work in the Baptist ME community which they did for a number of years thereafter, enriching the marriages of many other couples and allowing these couples a glimpse into their faith relationship with Jesus Chirst.

The second event, less significant yet still life-changing, during this time was Gisela’s attendance with her best friend at an Embroiderer’s Guild of America event.  Both Gisela and Diane had done a few needlework pieces and they came home with total amazement in their eyes about a new world that had opened up for them.  They had never seen the amazing variety and beautiful forms of needlework they were introduced to and became instant addicts.  Gisela was seldom seen afterwards without a piece of needlework in her hands.

Work wise, Paul and Gisela started their own company, Financial Software Systems, Inc., a small computer systems house, which they worked for some 20+ years dealing with state of the art hardware/software systems.  Gisela was President and CFO while Paul was Vice President, lead salesman and Chief Technical Officer. 

Just a small bit of the inventory at Stitchers' Paradise.

During a business lull, they decided to shut down the computer operations, semi-retire to Paradise, CA, and open up a retail needlework shop (Stitchers’ Paradise).  Gisela ran this small business until she started to get sick around year 2000, when the shop was closed and inventory/name/website sold. 

Gisela spent her remaining years in their beautiful 5-acre property in the mountains of Upstate, CA, where she enjoyed time with grandchildren, cats and rabbits while continuing to add to her legacy of beautiful needlework.

One of her greatest desires was for others to enjoy her work,
so please take some time to browse her online needlework gallery.

Needlework Gallery