Else Tasseron receives the Valiant Woman Award

during the Church Women United gathering on June 6, 2014.

Else Tasseron was born in the Netherlands shortly before the Second World War, and had experiences much different than most of us. Her parents were in the underground resistance, and they often had Jews hidden in their house. These experiences determined or influenced the rest of her life.

Because food was rationed, the family was often hungry. While Else’s two sisters were at school, it was her job to make a three- mile trek to get watery soup each day. Following the war, teenager Else worked as a chaperone for a church that picked up children between the ages of 6 and 16 from refugee camps in Germany. They were taken to the Netherlands for families to take in and care for. During these trips Else stood up to the German border guards as she protected her young charges. It also helped that Else spoke several languages.

After high school, Else worked as a volunteer building a nursing home and a kindergarten. At 18 she took a job at the World Council of Churches in Geneva. Her excellent translation skills came in handy since visitors came from all around the world.

Else immigrated to the United States when she was 30, and worked as a social worker in the area of assisting addicts and their families. Some of the other projects were working in an /in -patient /out- patient clinic, volunteering as a driver in the inner city of Cincinnati for families needing to go to court or appointments, helping to set a food bank, being active in her church and leading retreats for families.

Else was on disability by the time she moved to Albuquerque in 1994. However, receiving a pain pump gave Else a second wind, and she felt well enough to continue to do volunteer work with hospice patients, caring for babies at Cuidando Los Ninos, and cuddling premature babies at the Women’s Hospital, many of whom are born with addictions. This is her love at this time. In addition, Else is a member of ABQ Church Women United and served as finance Coordinator for two years. Thank you Else for your wonderful service to many great causes.