Susanne M. YokelYOKEL SUSANNE MARTHA YOKEL Israeli Patriot Foreign Language Teacher Susanne Martha Yokel, 87, of Bethesda Maryland died of natural causes on September 4, 2011 while vacationing with her son in Utah. She is survived her brother, Robert Braun and her children, Uri (Kathy Rodriguez) Yokel, Yael (Jonathan) Yokel Ellis, and Ben (Heidi) Yokel; grandchildren, Nathan, Erin and Zachary Yokel, Coral, Hope and Dylan Ellis, Ilana, Joshua and Peter Yokel, and great-grandson Francisco Young Yokel. Born in Vienna Austria in 1923 to Max and Karoline Braun, her life spanned three continents. At age 14 she was sent by her family to Israel with the Zionist Youth Aliyah to escape the pending Holocaust. In Israel, she became one of the founding members of Kibbutz Kfar Blum and fought in the war of independence, serving as a small arms instructor and nurse. There she married Felix Yokel who also fled the Holocaust from Austria. They remained married until his death in 2005. The Yokel family grew to include two children and relocated to the U.S. in 1956 to pursue educational opportunities. Although her secondary education had been cut short by the war, Susanne earned a masters degree and PhD candidacy in German literature at the University of Maryland. She was an expert in philology, spoke four languages, and had a distinguished career as a foreign language teacher with the Montgomery County school system. Susanne left a legacy of activism including the funding of a children's education center for the Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve in Sanibel Island, FL and support for creation of the Hula Nature Reserve in northern Israel. Susanne and Felix were also founding members of the US Holocaust Museum, and funded a memorial in remembrance of Jews from the town of Laa, Austria murdered in the Holocaust, including Felix's parents. Susanne will be remembered to all who knew her as a loving wife, supportive parent, adoring grandmother, activist, and a force to be reckoned with. A memorial service will be held at the Garden of Rememberence Memorial Park, 14321 Comus Rd, Clarksburg MD 20871 on Friday, September 9 at 2 p.m. The family will receive visitors following the service and sit Shiva on Saturday afternoon at the family home at 8208 Fenway Rd., Bethesda, MD 20817. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to the Ding Darling Wildlife Society www.dingdarlingsociety.org or the National Park Service.Susanne will be remembered to all who knew her as a loving wife, supportive parent, adoring grandmother, activist, and a force to be reckoned with. A memorial service will be held at the Garden of Rememberence Memorial Park, 14321 Comus Rd, Clarksburg MD 20871 on Friday, September 9 at 2 p.m. The family will receive visitors following the service and sit Shiva on Saturday afternoon at the family home at 8208 Fenway Rd., Bethesda, MD 20817. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to the Ding Darling Wildlife Society www.dingdarlingsociety.org or the National Park Service. Arrangements under the direction of Edward Sagel Funeral Direction, Inc., Rockville, MD.