Erla Juerres Stanford, 82, of Huntsville, AL, passed away on Wednesday, April 02, 2025.

On July 12, 1942, Erla Jurres was born to Fritz Jurres, baker, and Erla Jurres (nee Albrecht), home maker.  Along with her brother Fritz, they lived and worked in the family bakery in Gustrow, state of Mecklenburg, Germany.  In 1949, as the Berlin Wall was going up, the family escaped to West Germany via Berlin and would eventually settle in Mannheim where a new family bakery was established.

In 1964, Erla met and married Major Thomas L. Stanford while working for the U.S. Army as a secretary and translator.

In 1966, her son Lee was born and the family relocated to the United States where her daughter, Sharon, was born in 1968.  She worked part time as a Red Cross nurse's assistant at the Blytheville Air Force Base hospital.  Thomas retired from the army in 1974 as a Lieutenant Colonel and the family moved to Huntsville, Alabama in 1976.

Erla received her college degree from Athens State (Cum Laude) and went to work for Lockheed Martin as a document / technical publications specialist and then worked at Intergraph as a software product translator, translating English into five other languages.  She retired from Intergraph in 2008.

In her spare time, Erla was a member of the International Women's Club, enjoyed painting, classical music and vacationing in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

She was preceded in death by her husband and is survived by her two children.

The family will receive friends Monday, April 7th from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at Berryhill Funeral Home.