RAPID CITY – Claudia Schweikard, 63, passed away on Monday, June 26, 2023 at Monument Health Home + Hospice House.

She was born on March 1, 1960 while her father was studying at the University of Maine and her mother Ellsbeth had been taken to the nearest hospital in Mainz on  Rhine.  (A YouTube video of the song "On Rosen Montag" ties in with her life here.)

Claudia studied literature in college and spent a semester studying in Moscow, Russia.  She ultimately earned her master's degree.

Her first marriage to a German businessman lead her to Istanbul where she taught German to local Turks.  After a dramatic exit from Turkey, the couple went their separate ways.  Claudia then went on to become a successful journalist.  As her family was in the wine business, she found her niche doing numerous articles on wine.  She would also do travel articles and several other projects.  She began a collaboration with the government DLG Group to do an annual wine guide for over a decade.  Her last publication was in 2020.

On July 11, 2009, Claudia married Charlie in Veldhausen, a small town in Northern Germany.  After a honeymoon on the island of Juist in the North Sea, she went to live in Minnesota obtaining her green card.  Later, they moved to Rapid City.

Claudia is survived by her husband, Charles Kramsvogel and his daughter, Kayla, mother, Elsbeth Schweikard of Gau-Alsesheim, brother, Achim Schweikard of Luebeck and his daughters; Zoey, Christine and Marie, Sister, Barbara Schweikard of Appenheim, and her son, Marcel, sister, Dagmar Niederlein of Dusseldorf and her children; Julian, Johannes and Rahel.

Friends and family are invited to a memorial visitation on Friday, June 30, 2023 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home.