It' s an honor

Frances Jutz

receives honorary

teaching certificate on 90th birthday

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- If you see Frances Jutz, just call her "Grandma." While you're at it, wish her a happy birthday. She turned 90 June 24.

"She's grandma to everybody, even us kids," said her youngest son, Ken Jutz of New Ulm.

During her lifetime, she raised five sons and six daughters, 59 foster children and did day care for 100 or more other children over the years. Then, there's the 30-some grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Every one of them call her grandma.

Even with all the love and attention showered upon her by those she has loved and cared for, it wasn't until her 90th birthday that she received what may well be her most prized possession.

"Mother's dream was always to be a teacher," Ken Jutz said. "When she was finished with the eighth grade, her mother and father pulled her out of school and made her work on the farm and take care of the rest of the family."

Because having 11 siblings to care for was a full-time job, she never got a chance to go to high school and pursue her dream. But her desire to nurture children never waned.

"So we thought it would be nice for her 90th birthday to give her something very special so my sister Monica called Christine Jax (Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning Commissioner) and her crew up there in St. Paul about getting her an honorary teaching license from the State of Minnesota."

"Monica was kind enough to introduce me to a very special woman who had generously sacrificed her own dream to help at home and on the farm," Jax wrote in a letter to Frances Jutz. "In addition, this remarkable woman continued throughout her life to provide care and education to countless numbers of other young children. You may have guessed who this woman is and what her dream was."

Enclosed was an Honorary Teaching License from the State of Minnesota, issued on Jutz' birthday and signed by Jax and George Maurer, executive director of the State Board of Teaching.

"By presenting you with this honorary teaching license from the State of Minnesota, on behalf of Governor Ventura and myself, I'd like to express our admiration and gratitude for your outstanding contribution to the care and education of young children.

"It has been said that to live life well, you must make a difference in the life of a child. You truly have lived your life in an exceptional manner, having made a difference in the lives of so many children," Jax wrote.

Born and raised in Nebraska until she was 17 years old, Frances' dream had to take a back seat to the harsh economic realities of the Depression.

"One day my father and brother said they were going to drive until they found a place for us to live. That's how we got here to Minnesota," Frances Jutz said.

"We settled on a farm close to Sleepy Eye, lived there for a while, and then moved closer to Searles. My mother hired me out to a lady who was getting close to 75 years old and her two sons that were living together. I was about 22 years old then. That is the way I met my husband, Nicholas Jutz. He was one of the lady's sons."

After 20-plus years of marriage, her husband died, and Frances Jutz bought a house on North Jefferson near the Fairgrounds in New Ulm where she and her large family lived for 43 years. She now lives in Ridgeway on German.

Through Catholic Family Services and later with Brown County Family Services, she took in those foster-care children, as well as caring for up to 15 children a day who were dropped off by working parents. She continued to care for children until she suffered a stroke in her mid-70s.

Was receiving the honorary license a nice birthday present?

"You bet it was," Frances Jutz replied, her face bursting into a big grin.