Obituaries - Aug. 7, 1997

Johanna Helene Draper of Camarillo, who served as a nanny for Patty Hearst, died July 23 in a local hospital. She was 80.

Draper was born Sept. 23, 1916, in Goerlitz, Germany. She married at age 18, had one daughter and was widowed during World War II.

She worked for the German government as a bookkeeper and conductor on a troop transport train during World War II until 1945. Like most other government employees at the time, Draper was forced into a work camp. She served for three years until 1948, when an exchange agreement was established and she was released to West Germany. She was then transferred to East Germany, where she resumed her position as a bookkeeper for the railroad.

Draper came to the United States in 1968 to be near her daughter and grandchildren. She then worked for the Randolph Hearst family as a live-in nanny for two years, caring for Patty Hearst as a teenager and traveling to the family’s residences in New York and at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, according to her family.

She then met her second husband, Bill Draper, a motion picture cameraman. They lived in Grass Valley, about 115 miles west of Lake Tahoe, for 18 years.

Following the death of her second husband in 1988, Draper moved to Camarillo to live with her daughter, Ingeborg Hofrath.

Throughout her life, Draper tried to educate herself in the American lifestyle and took numerous courses in English and American history at Oxnard College. She enjoyed reading German literature, going for walks and crocheting. Family members say she was witty and had a good sense of humor, and had a loving attitude toward others.

In addition to her daughter, Draper is survived by a grandson and granddaughter. She was preceded in death in April by a sister, Anni Nessler of Wuerzburg, Germany.

A memorial service will be held Sunday at 4 p.m. at Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary, Camarillo.

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Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by mortuaries.