Sieghild B. Sloan

Sieghild Boehmer Sloan-Towers (Sigi), was born in Bayreuth, Germany on February 9, 1941 and, after on-going challenges from multiple health issues, died on November 28, 2021 in hospice care at Future Care Chesapeake in Arnold, MD.

Sieghild was the second of Martha Elfriede Pauley and Dr. Rudolf Boehmer’s five children. Her early schooling was in Bayreuth until, to avoid WWII threats to that city, the family moved to the nearby village of Lindenhurst and she was schooled in both Lindenhurst and Bayreuth. At the end of the war, the family moved North to Oldenburg, Schleswig-Holstein on the Baltic Sea. Her education continued there until graduation from the Oldenburg Gymnasium where her father was a teacher. Focusing on the French language she continued her studies at the University in Heidelberg and the Sorbonne in Paris. Later, in Heidelberg she met and married William Sloan, eventually moving to the U.S. in Atlanta, GA and then to Annapolis. They had two children, a daughter, Heike and a son, Davin.

The marriage ended in divorce but Sieghild carried on with her education and career development. At age 32, single and with two

children, she enrolled at AA Community College to see what intrigued her. It turned out

to be Chemistry! Receiving her Associates Degree a day after she was Naturalized as a U.S. citizen, she turned to UMBC where she ultimately received a B.A. Degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology and an M.S Degree in Biochemistry. Then, after two years with a private biotech company, she entered into her long career at the National Institutes of Health until she retired in 2008.

She developed many close and continuing friendships along the way from her schooling in Bayreuth, Oldenburg, Heidelberg, and UMBC through her employment years at IGI, the biotech company, and during her 23 years at the NIH.

But Sigi was not all “books and beakers”. She was a biker in her teens (one 300 mile trip with a girlfriend across Germany, from Oldenburg to Moenchen-Gladbach to visit her grandparents – but hitching a ride for the return – and at least two trips into Denmark). And, while not an Olympian, she was a runner (regularly, around the neighborhood Navy Stadium) and a swimmer (UMBC and other pools convenient to her commutes). She was also a seamstress (need a gown for the Kennedy Center Ball; go to Britts, buy the fabric and then make it) and a knitter (conceive an idea of what and how, buy the yarn and then just knit). She was a budding potter too, and then, increasingly as time passed, gardening and travel became prime interests of hers.

Her family life evolved along with her career. Sieghild “re-met” her present husband, Robert George (Bob) Towers in 1986 (they and

their families lived and socialized in the same apartment complex in Annapolis when she moved there in 1966). Sigi and Bob married in 1987 and cherished every moment of their time together!

Sieghild was predeceased by her parents; her younger sister, Elfriede Kurio; and her sister-in-law, Romaine Towers. She is survived by her husband, Bob Towers of Annapolis; her daughter, Heike Sloan (Glen Burnie); her son, Davin Sloan and grand-daughter, Ella Sloan (Cape St. Claire); and her husband’s children, Scott Towers (West River), Burkett Towers (Millersville) and Elizabeth Ridout Takesian (Annapolis) and their children and grand-children. She also leaves her older sister, Siegrun Kochanke (Koh Samui, Thailand); her sister Sunhild Kirsch-Brohmann (Hude-Wuesting, Germany); her brother Rudhart Boehmer (Bangkok, Thailand) and their families.

A memorial visitation will be held on Saturday, December 18, 2021 from 12-2pm at Barranco Severna Park Funeral Home & Cremation Care, P.A., 495 Ritchie Hwy, Severna Park, MD, 21146. A memorial service will be held at 2pm at the funeral home. Interment is private. The memorial service will be livestreamed on the Barranco Facebook at 2pm at https:// www.facebook.com/barrancofuneralhome/. In lieu of flowers, donations to Cancer research or charities of your personal choice are encouraged.

Online condolences may be made on

www.barrancofuneralhome.com