Updated: 4:00 PM EDT May 12, 2021 A former first lady of Greenville has died. Trude Heller was 98 years old. Trude was the wife of Max Heller, who was mayor from 1971 to 1979.According to her obituary, Trude Heller was born on June 19, 1922, in Vienna, Austria. She was forced as a teenager to flee Austria during the Holocaust. After a harrowing escape and what she referred to as many miracles, she came to the United States in 1940 and 2 years later married her beloved Max whom she had known in Vienna, the obituary said.The two were married in 1942 in downtown Greenville and had three children. (Video above is her talking to students) She served on the boards of several agencies in the Upstate, including the Greenville Symphony Guild, Metropolitan Arts Council and Greenville Hospital Guild. For her service to South Carolina, she was honored with the Order of the Palmetto. She was an honorary member of Omicron Delta Kappa.She was also conferred with an honorary degree