Herman J. Andres was born December 26, 1900 at Newton, Kansas. His parents were Gustav Andres and Anna Neufeldt Andres. He was the youngest of eight children who grew to adulthood.
He attended the public schools of Harvey County and Bethel College, also the University of Colorado. After farming several years he joined the staff of an investment banking concern in Newton.
In 1938 he was asked to become administrator of the Bethel Deaconess Hospital and the Bethel Home for Aged at Newton, Kansas. He continued in this work for nearly twenty years and always considered his work in the health field as his major activity in life.
He is a past president of the Kansas Hospital Association. He was one of the original incorporators of the Kansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and also served as its president for a number of years. For several years he served as chairman of the board of Prairie View Hospital during its development period. He helped organize the Association of Mennonite Hospitals and Homes and also has served as its president. He was a Life-Fellow in the Americal College of Hospital Administrators.
He was a life-long member of First Mennonite Church. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the General Conference Mennonite Church and for twelve years served as president of the Board of Education and Publication. It was during this time that he helped develop the Every Home Plan for the conference periodicals.
In 1957 he was appointed president and manager of the newly organized Schowalter Foundaion. This position he held until his retirement in 1975.
Twice he was commissioned by the Mennonite Central Committee to go on special assignment to South America. In the fall of 1948 he went to Uruguay to help resettle a contingent of Mennonite World War II refugees. In 1958 he assignment was to go to Paraguay to help locate and establish a mental hospital facility in Filadelfia and also to consult with the director of the Agricultural Experimental Farm there regarding several projects supported by the Schowalter Foundation.
(The above was written by Herman Andres before his health failed. The following is added by the family.)
On August 16, 1931, Dad was marred at Goshen, Indiana to Joanna Sudermann and together they enjoyed 61 years of married life.
Dad grew up on a farm and his keen interest in farming never left him. During his life he owned a number of pieces of land and enjoyed this contact with the soil. The price of wheat was of constant interest to him as were different methods of farming. When the extended family would get together he would have his time with the nephews discussing such matters.
Dad liked fried chicken done the old-fashioned way, and pork chops done Ella's way. He had the Andrew 'sweet tooth' and liked his coffee with a cookie, coconut cream pie and at Christmas anise cookies, the kind that you have to whip for twenty minutes, and marzipan. He had a good sense of humor and enjoyed a good joke, especiall if he could tell it.
Dad liked good music, especially the tenor voice and would often break out in song. Dad liked children and often carried candy in the glove compartment of his car just in case he might meet one of his great nieces or nephews.
In 1987 the folks moved to Schowalter Villa. A couple of years ago Dad's health started to fail him and so he needed more care. This involved separation, something he found hard, but he was never obstinate and accepted the reality of the situation.
During the past couple of weeks his condition worsened and in the evening of October 12, 1992, he died peacefully.
Herman and Joanna have two children: a daughter, Amy Elizabeth Reed, who with her four children live in Denver, Colorado, and James Herman, who with his wife, Helen, live at Rosthern, Saskatchewan. He leaves also four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. A special joy to him was his family of nephews and nieces and their families."
