Erika Tomczak, nee Janssen, a resident of Eureka, CA since 2002 passed away on June 7, 2025 at the age of 83 years. She was an unselfish, kind, brave, sharing person born in Bremen, Germany on May 12, 1942. Her early childhood years were not easy because they were during World War II. The Allies, England and the United States, were bombing her port city on the Weser River in northern, Germany until late 1945.
Her parents were Herbert and Magdelena Janssen. After he had fathered Renate, Hildegard, Erika and Marianne. Herbert was drafted into the German Army and shot down in a passenger/transport plane over Greece in 1943. Erika’s mother Magdelena remarried and had three more children; Heike, Elie, and Ilse, who still live in Bremen. Erika helped care for these younger sisters during those difficult times after World War II. The children collected metals and intact artifacts in the destroyed parts of their city. These were redeemed for a few coins to help pay for some precious available food supplies.
The schools reopened after the war and by the time Erika was sixteen, she was working taking care of the children of a German Playwright, Bertolt Brecht. She later became the head cook at a government sponsored health recovery resort for sickly malnourished, health-challenged German children in Berchtesgaden in the German Alps. Erika eventually returned to her native city of Bremen and found work and began building a career as an office worker with a German defense contractor.
In the summer of 1965 the lives of Erika Janssen and Cpt Gerry Tomczak, a US Army officer stationed in Bremerhaven, Germany, changed forever when they met on a beach called Duhnen on the North Sea. That Gerry could speak German (learned courtesy of the US Army) made the difference in their relationship, because Erika could not speak English. They spent many of their subsequent weekends together doing all the things that cost little, such as long nature walks, visiting small towns, historical sites, zoos, listening to music, and just enjoying each other’s company, each contributing to making their time together special.
In August 1966 Gerry received orders sending him to Vietnam. Nothing was settled between them except a promise to correspond. Gerry arrived in Vietnam in October 1966. In May 1967 Erika received a letter from Gerry telling her he was leaving the Active Army in September 1967 and proposing marriage. Erika answered in one word, JA.
Erika left her family and potentially lucrative job in Bremen, Germany and bravely came to Chicago knowing only Gerry. They were married in Church on October 14, 1967, welcomed and celebrated by Gerry’s family.
After the wedding Erika and Gerry traveled to Santa Barabara where Gerry entered the Brooks institute of Photography for training as a professional photographer. It was a hard, lonely time for Erika with no nearby friends or family. Gerry worked long hours taking pictures, developing films, and printing pictures. The only positive thing that was happening was Erika watching lots of TV and rapidly learning English.
Erika and Gerry had a meeting and decided to return to Chicago in the Fall of 1968 after their rental lease expired. In the interim they traveled to Las Vegas, Death Valley, and San Francisco.
Erika thrived in Chicago. She grew close to Gerry’s family and made friends with a married woman from Germany living in the same high rise apartment building. Gerry began a commercial photography business. Erika got a job as a filling clerk and part-time switchboard operator for Esquire Magazine; her English was now that good.
What bothered both Erika and Gerry was that except when northerly winds blew off Lake Michigan the city air was hard to breathe, gray and dirty. 50 miles away you could see the gray dome hanging over the city,
They decided to buy a small photography studio in Cadillac, Michigan, a small northern lower Michigan town of 11,000 and moved there in 1971. Erika and Gerry enjoyed success in their business of portraits, wedding pictures, and especially commercial/industrial photography for manufacturers in northern Michigan. Erika helped manage the studio and took a number of community college courses particularly in accounting and marketing.
Around 1976 an overall decline began in the manufacturing sector due to increased cost of oil that had a severe effect on the rust belt states of the Midwest, especially Michigan. In December 1981 Wexford County, where Cadillac was located, had a 23.2 % unemployment rate. Erika applied for a job at a local motel, resort and golf course for a “night motel clerk with light bookkeeping duties”. Unsuccessful, Erika discovered that even CPAs applied for the job.
In early 1982 Erika told Gerry to pack up and drive to California and sleep on the couch of a friend, who had already moved there, until he found a job. California was booming due to the military defense build-up under President Ronald Regan.
They closed the studio and Gerry drove to California. He found a job running a store selling software for the popular new Apple II computer in Costa Mesa, CA. Erika painted and prepared their house for sale. She contacted a broker and jacked up the commission to expedite the home sale in a slow market and cover the amount still owed on the mortgage. She sold as many possessions as possible including their second car to raise enough money to rent a U-Haul truck and have enough money to get to California.
Neighbors helped load a large U-Haul van with remaining possessions. That included two little dogs, loved dearly by Erika, (a medium poodle and a cockapoo provided with tranquilizers) in the cab with Gerry’s mother (who had come to live with them). Erika drove 2245.5 miles from Cadillac, MI to Costa Mesa, CA.
The Tomczak’s discovered a bright new world, full of excitement, business activity, and new construction when they arrived in California in the spring of 1982. Because Erika had mastered the production of balance sheets, profit and lost statements, and payroll she easily found a job as a full charge bookkeeper with MBH Electronics, a small busy PC board manufacturer. Gerry continued work in sales of PC software until starting a job selling newspaper advertising for Riverside Press Enterprise.
Unfortunately, by 1998 PC board manufacturing was being done much more cheaply in Asia than in the USA. This put Erika’s reasonably well-paid job increasingly at risk. At the same time Newspaper readership and advertising was starting to decline due to the growth of the internet and TV advertising causing concern for Gerry. Erika had a murderous commute between Corona in Riverside County (full of growing housing developments) and Santa Ana County (where all the jobs were). Erika had 2 ½ hours morning and evenings commute on jammed freeways and up to 3 hours on Friday evenings for the return home commute. Erika couldn’t find a similar job nearer to Corona.
In 2000, Gerry took Erika on a visit to his high school friend living in Eureka, California, hoping to reduce her commuting stress by changing locations. Erika particularly appreciated the area and its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Gerry suggested moving there, but Erika insisted she did not want to live in the woods. They agreed to find a place in town. Gerry found a suitable home, and they moved to Eureka to be semi-retired in the summer of 2002.
Erika volunteered with the Timber Heritage Association and worked as an In-Home Caregiver until slowing down after undergoing surgery and later sustaining knee damage from a fall. Erika and Gerry enjoyed visiting the local Pacific Ocean beaches, often letting their dogs run. In 2013, Erika traveled to Germany to visit her family, and in 2018, two of Erika’s sisters visited the Tomczaks.
By early 2018, Erika showed signs of dementia and could no longer manage financial tasks accurately. Gerry underwent surgery in August 2019 and recovered well. Despite health challenges, they continued visiting the ocean regularly.
On January 31, 2025, Erika became seriously ill and was admitted to the Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness Center on February 5, 2025. Gerry visited Erika almost daily for the following four months. When her health seriously declined Erika’s treatment transitioned to comfort care on June 6. Erika passed away on the afternoon of Saturday, June 7, 2025, with Gerry at her bedside.
Erika is survived by her loving husband, Gerry Tomczak and three sisters Ilse Bossing, Elle Schulze and Heike Schnelle. Friends welcome to attend scattering of her ashes from the Madaket on July 14, 2025. Meet at 1 C St, Eureka at 11am. Flowers optional. Following the send-off, all are welcome to enjoy food at Jack’s Seafood.
This article appears in The Man Who Unsolved a Murder.