Brunhild Mayer was born in Schamerau in Upper Silesia, now Poland. She and her family fled to Finsing in 1945 after her father died in the war.
The family moved to Burgdorf near Hanover in Lower Saxony. In 1964 she married her husband Josef Mayer, a trained Wagner. She still does her own housework in her comfortable home, works in the garden, reads a lot and enjoys visits from her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Daily gymnastics keeps her fit.