Jutta Anderson, age 87, of Decorah, Iowa, passed away on Saturday, August 15, 2026, at The Highlands (Aase Haugen) in Decorah, Iowa.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 29, 2026, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church with Pastor Kristen Larsen-Schmidt presiding. Burial will be held in Phelps cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 1:00 p.m. until the start of the service at the church on Saturday afternoon. Snacks and dessert will follow in the Fellowship Hall.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be directed either to the Olga Fischer-Proehl International Studies Scholarship at the advancement office at Luther College or to the Good Shepherd Scholarship Endowment.

Jutta (Fischer) Herrmann Anderson died in Decorah, Iowa on August 15th, 2026 at the Highlands Senior Living Community surrounded by family.

Born in Uerdingen am Rhein (nowadays incorporated into Krefeld in Germany) on May 7th 1939, she was the middle child of the late Wilhelm and Olga Fischer. Living in an urban and industrial area during WWII, oftentimes short on fresh meat and vegetables, her father would hike into the countryside to exchange beloved items for bodily nourishment.

Following the war, she attended primary school and then the Mädchen-Gymnasium in Uerdingen. Always eager to read and to learn, Jutta immediately enrolled at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in the history of Art and Art Education, earning her MA+ at the age of 24. During this time, she met and married Rolf-Dieter Herrmann, and they were both offered teaching positions at the University of Dortmund. After 1 year of marriage, Rolf-Dieter was diagnosed with testicular cancer and, after surgery and cobalt treatment, he was eventually declared cancer free. When offered teaching positions at Lenoir Rhine University in Hickory, North Carolina, they accepted and emigrated to the U.S.

Rolf-Dieter was then called to teach at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, a school with a large philosophy department, which allowed him to focus on his area of specialization, Aesthetics. At that time, the Herrmanns adopted two children both at 10 days old (Lars Gunnar in 1970 and Niels Holger in 1973). Jutta stopped teaching, but, because the couple had similar fields of study, Jutta enjoyed helping Rolf-Dieter with the writing of his articles and books. As the boys grew, she herself kept presenting papers at international conferences, seminaries, colleges, and retreat centers. In 1978, when the kids were only 7 and 4, Rolf-Dieter, at age 43, was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He survived the diagnosis by only 4 months.

After taking courses in Psychology at UT and also after receiving training from Kubler Ross, a renowned specialist on death and dying, she started leading grief counseling and realized the difficulty of dealing with the loss of a loved one without a religious framework. That led her to consider entering the ministry. After a semester of classical Greek at UT, Jutta, at 40 years old and with two small boys, moved to Columbia, South Carolina to pursue a degree through Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS). As the classes progressed, Jutta became acutely aware that she could not do justice to her class load and pay attention to the boys’ needs.

While Jutta was wrestling with her multiple responsibilities, the president of LTSS resigned his position in order to become president of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Soon thereafter, Jutta attended a conference at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN that focused on women in ministry, a component she had missed at LTSS. Meanwhile, the faculty at LTSS had learned that President H. George Anderson’s wife had died after only three months in Decorah from a long battle with cancer and that his daughter was dealing with grief issues. The professors asked if Jutta would be willing to visit and offer assistance. That trip started a friendship built on similar histories and mutual admiration. Should the relationship go beyond that, they had decided to introduce the families to one another and so she and the boys moved to Decorah. Jutta and George married in the summer of 1983, and created a blended family with Erik 21, Kristi 15, Lars 13, and Niels 10.

Two years into the marriage, George (who was adopted himself) adopted the two Herrmann boys and they took his name. Kristi graduated from high school and left for Augustana in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 1988, Lars started at Luther College and Niels had three more years of high school before also enrolling at Luther. Lars went on to law school and is now serving as a District Court Judge. Niels went on to earn an MA in Education and a second MA in Administration and is now a junior high/high school principal. During her days in Decorah, Jutta taught one course in the history of American contemporary art at Luther.

At the 1995 Churchwide Assembly, George was elected Presiding Bishop of the ELCA which required a move to Chicago. During that time, Jutta joined St. Lukes Lutheran Church in Parkridge where she soon became head of the adult education program. A magazine called Christianity in the Arts asked Jutta to be a contributing editor, suggesting she write two page articles four times a year on paintings with religious or spiritual content.

On occasions Jutta accompanied George on longer trips to meetings at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) offices in Geneva Switzerland, to the International Assembly of Lutherans in Hong Kong, and the World Council of Churches in Zimbabwe with stops in Ethiopia and Namibia to visit missionaries. When the bishops had a day off, Jutta joined them on a flight to Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. Another special memory from Jutta’s time in Chicago was the festival service at Washington National Cathedral where Lutherans and Episcopalians celebrated their agreement (Called to Common Mission) to exchange pastors and cooperate in other ways. Seven people were asked to read the prayers of the church in their native language and Jutta was selected to read in German. George’s last act as presiding bishop was flying to New York in response to the 9/11 event.

Shortly after retirement, George and Jutta divorced in 2004. She moved back to Decorah in 2007 where she bought a condo surrounded by a park on all sides. In 2019, Jutta was diagnosed with a rare, incurable cancer of the spine (Chordoma). She had surgery and became wheelchair bound and moved in to Aase Haugen by the Upper Iowa River. That building was then relocated to the north side of town and is called The Highlands Senior Living Community.

During her final years, she gave generously to Luther College through multiple scholarships focused on travel opportunities for disadvantaged students, and also at her home church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. She found comfort and friendship through her active participation there where she gave a legacy scholarship to graduating high school seniors going on to further education. She always was curious either reading a book, working on puzzles, learning about nature, or in intellectual discussions.

As a mother and grandmother, she was the embodiment of a faith-filled and devoted leader. All throughout her life and even at the end, she never backed down from a challenge. Raising two children on her own while still pursuing her higher education demonstrated her unbending resolve. Always born out of love, she often challenged people to be their best.

Jutta was preceded in death by her husband Rolf-Dieter Herrmann and brother Karsten Fischer.

She is survived by her sister Senta, sister-in-law Elke, nephews Otto, Ernst, Jens, and Knud as well as her two sons, Lars and daughter-in-law Dawn and her grandchildren Kelby and Erin and Niels and daughter-in-law Pam and her grandchildren Luther and Josie. She will be remembered as faithful, loving, generous, and encouraging.