FLATVILLE — Anna Maria Duitsman (Ackerman), 97, of Flatville passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Thursday (Jan. 11, 2024) at Plainfield Healthcare Center in Plainfield, Ind.
There will be a visitation on Tuesday (Jan. 16, 2024) from 1 to 2p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Flatville, followed immediately by the funeral service. Interment and a short prayer service will be held at Huls Cemetery, Gifford. Baier Family Funeral Services, Flatville, is assisting the family with arrangements.
Anna was born Jan. 19, 1926, along with her twin sister Ellen Britt, at the family home in Gifford to Emily (Olson) and Heinrich (Henry) Ackerman.
Surviving are her children Vaughn (Nadezhda), Marc, Deborah, Joanne and Brian.
Also surviving are eight grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, John A. Duitsman, who passed away in 2013. She was also preceded in death by her siblings Herman, Emma, Clara, Frederick (Fritz), twin sister Ellen, and Arthur (Art); and by her granddaughter Erin Ann (Brooks) Mann.
Anna was always caring and loving with all her family and friends. She was proud of her farming heritage and loved sharing stories with her family about childhood adventures on the farm. Before marriage, she attended Illinois Commercial College and was employed at Chanute Air Force Base helping with arriving troops during World War II. She was married to John A. Duitsman on Oct. 6, 1945. Anna loved assisting with the family farm alongside John and their sons, Marc and Vaughn.
Throughout her life, Anna was very involved in the church and loved singing in the choir with her husband, John. In the early 1990s, she sang with her twin sister Ellen Britt and their high school friend Mary Ellen Osbourne in the trio The Late Bloomers. They served their community by singing in different churches and at the Danville VA Hospital. Anna felt great pride in their going on to win second place at the Danville area talent show. She was also involved in the auxiliary for Country Health Nursing Home.
Anna loved serving the church, and loved designing and creating artwork for special events there. She was a skilled seamstress, designing and constructing many outfits, doll clothes, and costumes for her family. She was also very proud of her German and Swedish heritage and spent time researching her and John’s family histories. Anna spoke of fond memories growing up speaking Plattdeutsche in the family home. Later in life she took an interest in refreshing her knowledge of the language and was thrilled to have visited relatives in Ostfriesland to celebrate her 80th birthday with her daughter Deborah.
Anna will be greatly missed by her family and friends, and always remembered with love.
In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, memorials may be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness at https:// www.nami.org/About-NAMI/ Donate-to-NAMI or the Empty Tomb at https:// missionmatch.org/donate.
Condolences and memories can be shared with the family at www.baierfuneralservices. com.
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