Obituaries
& Tributes

303-776-2313
Immediate Need

Prearrange
Your Funeral

Contact
Us

Site
Search

326 Terry St, Longmont
CO 80501
Phone: 303-776-2313
About An Amazing Life|Help

Barbara Brigitte
Lange

April 10, 1944 – September 17, 2018

Share this tribute
Barbara Lange
Memorial Candles Lit for Barbara | SEE ALL
"We are honored to provide this Book of Memories to the family."
— Ahlberg Funeral Chapel and Crematory

Obituary for Barbara Brigitte Lange

Print
Barbara Brigitte Lange died peacefully surrounded by family and friends in her home on Monday September 17, 2018.
She was born in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia in April 1944 to George and Franziska Stein. Ethnically German, she was expelled from her homeland along with her mother in October 1945 under the Beneš Decrees, an inhumane series of laws that killed millions of German civilians following WWII. They reunited with her father in Berlin, Germany, when he returned from a Soviet POW camp in Russia. She lived through the Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948. The supplies brought in by the Allies in the Berlin Airlift included sweets dropped from the sky by the Candy Bomber (USAF Col. Gail Halvorson) and were much anticipated by little Barbara. Just 4 years old, she and her best friend, an American girl, pilfered coal from the American family’s cellar to give to the Stein family so they would not be so cold during the long winter.

In 1956, at the age of 12, Barbara left Berlin with her family to start a new life in Colombia, South America. In 1962 she won a beauty competition at the Cali Tennis Club and graduated from Colegio Aleman, a German Catholic high school in Cali. In 1963 she graduated from Centro Colombo Americano (American Business Academy).

Barbara’s parents owned a pension hotel, Residencia Stein, in Cali. One of the hotel guests was the director of the business school she attended, William G. Crews, from Denver, CO, whom she married in 1963 after obtaining her immigration visa. She attended the Colorado Institute of Art and was a skilled artisan in Norwegian Rosemaling and needlepoint.

Just prior to the birth of her daughter in 1967, Barbara’s parents immigrated to Lyons, CO, and opened the Black Bear Inn. Barbara worked there as a waitress and manager from 1972 until the restaurant was sold in 1978. In 1980 she opened Café Vienna on Terry Street in Longmont and sold the restaurant in 1984 when she married Richard E. Lange. She then worked as an Avon representative, earning President’s Club sales awards 28 years in a row.

Barbara will be remembered for her beautiful smile and good nature. She could easily have been mistaken for the actress Isabella Rossellini when she was a younger woman. Her sassy sense of humor endeared her to friends. She was a lifelong animal lover, cats in particular. Since February 2017, she was a resident at the Longmont Regent, a place that she loved greatly. She enjoyed playing Bingo and organizing lunch outings with her friends there.

She is survived by her mother, Franziska Stein, her daughter, Dr. Amy Crews Cutts, her son in law, James A. Cutts, and grandson, Andrew W. Cutts, all of Reston, VA. She developed deep friendships with her first husband’s second family and considered them her family as well: Dorothy Crews of Greeley, Dr. Karen Crews Gregg of Lyons, and Brenda Crews Martinez of Highlands Ranch, as well as their children, Quinlyn M. Gregg, Carter W. Gregg, Riley Martinez and Owen Martinez. She is predeceased by her Father George Stein, Berlin, Germany and husband Richard Lange, Longmont.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Longmont Ending Domestic Violence Initiative (LEVI), 225 Kimbark, Longmont, CO 80501 [http://www.longmontdomesticviolence.org/wp/english/helping_levi/donate/] or the Longmont Humane Society, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont, CO 80501 [http://www.longmonthumane.org/?q=making-memorial-or-tribute-gift].

To send flowers to the family of Barbara Brigitte Lange, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.

Service Information

When
Monday, October 29th, 2018 2:00pm
Location
Ahlberg Funeral Chapel
Address
326 Terry St.
Longmont, CO 80501
Service Extra Info
A celebration of life service.
Book of Memories
Proudly Serving the Communities of Longmont, Loveland, Louisville, Lafayette, Superior, Gunbarrel, Niwot, Boulder, Frederick, Firestone, Dacono, Johnstown, Ft. Lupton, Ft. Collins, Berthoud, Lyons, Estes Park, Nederland, Erie, Boulder County, Larimer County, Weld County, Greeley, and Broomfield
303-776-2313 326 Terry St, Longmont CO 80501 | Phone: 303-776-2313