Endla Elfriede DeMattia, 84 of Mechanicsville, MD, formerly of Ft. Washington, MD passed away on January 31, 2009 at St. Mary's Nursing Center, Leonardtown, MD.

Born August 22, 1924 in Otepaa, Estonia, she was the daughter of the late August and Annette Murula.

Endla left Estonia during the Soviet Invasion in 1944 and fled to Germany and immigrated to Santa Fe, NM with only a suitcase in 1949. She met her husband in Albuquerque, NM and moved to Washington, DC. In 1969 she made contact with surviving relatives in Estonia and traveled there in 1972 to see her mother. Ms. DeMattia retired from the Library of Congress, as a translator. She discovered a treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union; this was instrumental in the Baltic States declaring independence.

Ms. DeMattia is survived by her children; Victor M. DeMattia and Karen Anderson, siblings Vaster and Laine, grandchildren; Kristofer and Tyler DeMattia, Jennings, Cody and Shelby Anderson.

Services are pending.

Arrangements by the Brinsfield-Echols Funeral Home, P.A. Charlotte Hall, MD.