Anna Harringa

Anna Harringa, age 95, of Forest City, IA, passed away at her home under hospice care on Thursday, July 30, 2026.

A service celebrating Anna’s life will be held at 11:00 AM on Monday, August 3, 2026, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Forest City, IA, with Pastor Zech Anderson officiating. Visitation will take place from 9:30 until service time at the church.

Burial will be at Linden Lutheran Cemetery in rural Thompson, IA.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to MercyOne Hospice of North Iowa.

Anna Arlene Caroline Brandt was born on November 9, 1930, to parents Henry J. Brandt and Kunna (Sterrenberg) Brandt. The world may not have been ready for her, but she was ready for the world! Anna embraced life to its fullest. Her parents felt that education was of utmost importance. She graduated from Woden High School and entered nurses training in 1947. She then graduated from Iowa Lutheran School of Nursing in Des Moines, IA, in 1950 with a Registered Nurses Degree and married Robert W. Fisher from Livermore, IA, and settled on a farm south of Buffalo Center, IA, and began assisting in all aspects of farming. Additionally, she worked at the Buffalo Center Hospital for several years in multiple roles. In 1957, she started working at the Forest City Community Hospital. She first worked as a floor nurse, then charge nurse – in those days, you filled in where you needed. In 1967, her husband died suddenly, and she was faced with making some tough decisions with five kids all under 18 years of age, a steep mortgage on the farm while continuing to work in nursing. It was a crazy time, but Anna pulled it together and made it work.

She moved her family off the farm to Forest City in 1968 and accepted an Administrator’s position at the Forest City Community Hospital. During this time through the end of her life, she continued to share-crop the farming operations. In 1969, she married Raymond Petersen. Ray was an accomplished welder in Forest City and owned Petersen Welding. During their marriage, Anna worked in many roles of the hospital and was on the steering committee for the new community hospital that was completed in 1975. Her favorite role there was surgical nurse.

During all this time, she continued to encourage all her kids to get a great education and aim high. Ray died in 1991 after suffering a debilitating stroke in 1989. In 1993, Anna married Ben Harringa, and they merged households by having an auction at the civic auditorium. (They lived around the corner from each other, best gift ever for the kids!) Ben always said that the real reason she married him was because he had a driveway with a south approach. In the wintertime, that was a real plus. Sadly, Ben developed cancer and passed away in 1995. Anna’s and Ben’s children have combined to create a new family who truly love each other very much.

Anna’s nursing career was not over by any stretch of the imagination. In the early 1990s, at the age of 63, she started working for Hospice of North Iowa until Mercy of North Iowa implemented electronic charting. She decided she was not interested in learning that; nevertheless, she kept her nursing license active through 2021! She often said that the Hospice nursing that she did was by far the most gratifying of all the roles that she held during her professional career. The number of patients that she helped through the end stages of their life, along with their families and the gratitude that some of them have shared, is inspiring.

Anna is survived by her children, LeAnne Troxel of St. Cloud, MN, Becky Fisher of St. Paul, MN, Kathy Leuwerke of Thompson, IA, David (Nancy) Fisher of Rapid City, SD, and Dan (Kathy) Harringa of Forest City, IA; daughter-in-law, Judy Harringa of Pleasant Hill, IA; grandchildren, Seth Fisher, Cheryl Troxel, Kathryn Troxel, Richard Troxel, Amy Troxel, Brad (Jennifer) Leuwerke, Jeff (Faye Norby) Leuwerke, Dan (Angie) Fisher, Ryan (Emily) Harringa, Jennifer (Brian) Roberts, Joy Boyd, and Lisa Speicker; many great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and extended relatives.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Kunna; husbands, Robert Fisher, Raymond Petersen, and Benjamin Harringa; a step-son, Dennis Harringa; son, Robert Fisher; sons-in-law, Bob Troxel and Dan Leuwerke; granddaughter, Danelle Harringa; and siblings, Evelyn Pendelton, Irvin Brandt, and LeRoy Brandt.