Montpelier, VT Ula I. Pommer died Friday, 23 May 2008, in the comfort of her Montpelier home at Heaton Woods. Ula is pictured above in Israel in 1951. Ula I. Pommer was born 19 May 1919 in Krakow, Poland. She was the daughter of Caecilie and Erwin Pommer. With her older brother Alfred, Ula was raised in Vienna, Austria. Their father was an inventor and manufacturer. Due to the political climate of 1939 Austria, Ula was forced to flee her home country. She found refuge in British occupied Palestine. Her brother Alfred had managed in 1938 to emigrate to the United States after a difficult year in Portugal. Their parents and several relatives died in the Holocaust. Ula married while living in the new country of Israel. She later divorced. She lived under a curfew and returned home one day to find that her apartment had been bombed. Ula made friends easily. They faced their daily hardships with good cheer, telling jokes, and having a decent meal when they could afford one. In 1953 Ula was sponsored by her brother Alfred to join him in the United States. She literally sold everything she owned to afford the fare. Ula settled in New York City. She eventually worked for Plansee USA. Paul Schwarzkopf, the founder of the company in Ruette, Austria, had been a friend of her father. Ula Pommer became a citizen of the United States in 1958. She took full advantage of New York City's cultural life. Ula also had the good fortune of living near the future Lincoln Center. She loved the opera and enjoyed her reserved seat for decades. She reveled in the friendship of many artists here and abroad. Ula retired in 1988. She was a major supporter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, and the United Jewish Appeal. Ula moved to Heaton Woods, a Montpelier assisted living facility, in 2006. Her brother, Dr. Alfred M. Pommer, had married Agnes Lawson, the younger sister of former Montpelier Fire Chief Sidney Lawson in 1949. Dr. Pommer died 14 December 1977. In her later years, Ula was spending several weeks every summer in Vermont. Although she missed her life in New York City, she acknowledged she needed more care. Ula grew to love the mountains of Vermont. Her Vermont family and friends considered it an honor to have her living in Vermont. Just two months prior to her death Ula was asked to visit the Crosset Brook Middle School in Duxbury to speak about the Holocaust. Ula was very touched by the letters sent by the young students thanking her. Ula I. Pommer is survived by her nephew Donald, his wife Lois of Baltimore, Maryland, and their children Christina and David. Ula considered Sidney Lawson, Jr., her brother's nephew, also her nephew. Ula leaves many devoted friends. They were her family. Ula died knowing she was loved. She was proud to be considered a survivor.