Julia Wasserman, a former Connecticut lawmaker, local elected official from Newtown, and studious public servant, died August 18.

She narrowly eluded the Nazis’ murderous 1938 Kristallnacht that foreshadowed the Holocaust, served in the US Women’s Army Corps, and later went on to earn the highest academic and professional advancements in public health and environmental stewardship.

Mrs Wasserman’s death at age 91, after a lengthy illness, was announced by her family. “It is time,” she told a small gathering of family and friends gathered around her Danbury Hospital room in her trademark direct and loving manner. She clasped the hands of her guests and embraced them as she did life.

To those who knew her in public as a proud Republican — either in Hartford or Newtown — or in private as a neighbor with twinkling eyes and boundless energy and heart, she was simply, “Julia.”

Her husband, Dr Louis Wasserman, a world-renowned hematologist associated with Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, predeceased her. Since 1957 when Julia and Louis Wasserman moved to Newtown, she called the same narrow, winding, tree-lined road home. Her beloved dogs ambled about the rural setting where they tolerated the wild birds that returned to the backyard pond each spring. In 2004, following a devastating fire that claimed her 1785 farmhouse, Mrs Wasserman, with her boundless energy, started over at age 80 and rebuilt her Sandy Hook home.

Nine decades of life were marked by her never-ending quest for knowledge, her endless curiosity, a penchant for travel, and her commitment to public service. Mrs Wasserman was honored this summer at a June 28 townwide celebration in Newtown for her community dedication, but was unable to attend. As she never retired from work or public service, she recently bemoaned that her position on the newly reconfigured state Board of Paroles was being eliminated July 1.

In her spare time, she scaled African peaks as an octogenarian on her quest to see gorillas.

Accomplishment, Learning, Overcoming Adversity

Brigitte Julia Weiskopf was born April 20, 1924, in Wuppertal, Germany. After her father’s sudden death in 1934, she lived with her mother and stepfather. She escaped the Germans in 1938 as a 14-year-old, traveling with a housekeeper, and managed to reunite with her mother and stepfather who were then living in Italy. Her grandmother, with whom she was living with at the time, never made it. Eventually the family relocated to Chicago. She became a United States citizen in 1946.

Lifelong learning and working were her passions. She attended the prestigious Miss Porter’s School, Class of 1942, and later the University of Chicago, during which time she spent time on the West Coast setting up a lab in a German prisoner camp that was being converted into a hospital. Over the objections of her mother, Mrs Wasserman then joined the Women’s Army Corps during the Korean War, and served as a captain in the Medical Service Corps. Mrs Wasserman earned a master of public health degree from Columbia University at a time when most men or women were planning their retirements or arranging play dates with their grandchildren.

Mrs Wasserman leaves behind a legacy of public service to the Town of Newtown and the State of Connecticut. She served on the Newtown Legislative Council for many years, until she was elected in 1990 as state representative from the 106th District from Newtown. She also served on numerous boards and commissions, her primary interests being public health issues and preserving the environment for future generations.

Her popularity was such that she rarely had an opponent as a state representative. She decided to retire after the 2008 session, having served 18 years, but was then appointed by former governor M. Jodi Rell to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Mrs Wasserman used her experience as a local public official and extensive advanced education to great advantage in the General Assembly. As chairman of the General Assembly’s Program Review and Development Committee, she earned accolades from both sides of the aisle for creating bipartisan support for important legislation that was later passed in the House and Senate.

Her dear friends Fredi Leet and Musa Lubega; her sister-in-law Natalie Wasserman Wolf; and many loving nephews and nieces and their families Survive Mrs Wasserman. She will be sorely missed by her family and many, many friends.

A celebration of her life is being planned for a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Beardsley Zoo, 1875 Noble Avenue, Bridgeport CT 06610.

Honan Funeral Home, Newtown, is in charge of arrangements.