Ute Hargreaves died in Sarasota, Fla., on Nov. 2. She was 89.

She was born Ute Hertha Ziemer, on June 26, 1929, in Schmalkalden, Thuringia, in Germany.

Her parents, Friedrich Ziemer and Christine Schirmeyer Ziemer, were both doctors. Ute recalled times in the pre-World War II economy when a number of her parents’ patients had little cash and would barter for medical services. Her lifelong aversion to goat cheese dated to a time when many patients offered it as payment. She proudly traced her family history to tsarist Russia, at a time when German immigrants constituted the educated professional class in a society otherwise composed of aristocrats and peasants. Her ancestors lived in St. Petersburg for nearly a century before returning to Germany.

During World War II, Ute attended the Max Rill Gymnasium in Reichesbeuern, Bavaria, a private girls’ school housed in a castle that dates to the time of Charlemagne. Her mother was the school physician. Her father served as a doctor in the German army and died shortly after the war from hepatitis. Upon her graduation, Ute moved to Munich, where she attended secretarial school. She then took a job with the International Refugee Organization, a body responsible for the resettlement of over 10 million persons displaced by World War II.

She subsequently left the IRO to work for the United States Army as a simultaneous translator. She met a young American serviceman named John (Jack) Hargreaves, who had been posted to Munich. They eventually became engaged. Jack returned to the United States when his tour of duty was completed and Ute followed, leaving her family behind and landing in New York in June, 1957. Her arrival on American soil is commemorated on the Ellis Island American Immigrant Wall of Honor.

Ute and Jack were married in Storrs, Conn., on July 13, 1957. A year later, she gave birth to their son John. Daughters Christine and Anne followed. Over time, the family moved from Scituate to Plainville, Conn.; Allentown, Pa.; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Windsor, England; West Hartford, Conn.; back to Sao Paulo; and Chapel Hill, N.C. Ute and Jack eventually retired to Sarasota, Fla. With each move, she successfully created a loving home environment, developed a network of friends and planned family travel. She was involved in the local community in each place she lived. She served as a Boy Scout and Gir l Scout leader, an art museum docent, a Welcome Wagon volunteer, a garden club member and a youth symphony volunteer. She was an active member of the Landings Learning Group and a decades-long member of the Landoliers Chorus, both in Sarasota.

In 1978, after several years of renting in the Camp Meeting Association’s Camp Ground, Ute and Jack bought a home on East Chop. She was active in the East Chop community as a member of the East Chop Tennis Club, East Chop Beach Club and as secretary of the East Chop Association. She was also a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club.

She reveled in her many friends, attending social gatherings and hosting dinners and parties in the various homes she and Jack made together. Toward the end of every event she hosted, Ute pulled out her guestbook and prevailed upon each visitor to sign it. The pages of her multiple guest books are filled with poems, drawings, anecdotes, and the creative musings of the many people who passed through the doors of the Hargreaves’ home, sharing in the warmth and hospitality that Ute created throughout her lifetime.

In addition to her husband of 61 years, she is survived by her children, John Hargreaves, Christine Hargreaves Ewing and Anne Hargreaves Corley; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.