About Sister Johanna Folz

Nurse

"Out of sight, out of mind" is the proverbial saying. This applies to events, but also to people. And yet there are people who remain unforgotten without having done anything unique or great.

One of these people is Sister Johanna Folz, who lives on in the memories of the people of the upper Höcherberg to this day. For over three decades, she was the centre and soul of the "Evangelical Nursing Association Höchen-Frankenholz-Websweiler based in Höchen", which was founded in February 1921 and built its own nurses' home in 1923.

"God needs people"

Sister Johanna Folz, who was born in St Ingbert in 1902 and became a deaconess in 1927, came to Höchen in 1943 as the successor to Sister Gertrud Koschick. With her tireless commitment, her distinguished and reserved manner, her deep faith, her open-minded nature and her wise sense of humour, she exemplified the ideals of the founder of the Inner Mission and the deaconess movement Theodor Fliedner, namely charity and kindness of heart, to an impressive degree and thus rightly lives on in the memory of her fellow human beings: Tireless, even in wind and weather, on her bicycle or Solex bike, regardless of denominational boundaries, travelling to the sick, lonely and dying in her black costume, the sick bag on the pannier rack, with bright eyes and pronounced facial features that flashed cheerfully and hopefully, sometimes mischievously, under the white cap.

She had a kind word for young and old, here an encouragement, there a consolation; and when she had a serious accident in her ministry in winter, already at an advanced age, she, now travelling with a walking stick and a bus, gave courage to those who sometimes saw no way or direction in their frailty. In terms of her personality, her charisma and her anchoring in the consciousness of her fellow human beings, she can only be compared to a few, perhaps to her Catholic co-sister Seferina, who was also the good soul of the "Elisabethenverein" in Frankenholz for many years as a nurse. For her, too, there were no denominational barriers in her work. In retrospect, it is somewhat strange that neither of them received any state honours; they certainly would not have wanted any, as this would have been difficult to reconcile with their dress of poverty. But for both of them, another, higher honour applies, which is praised in Psalm 112: "The righteous will always be remembered."

On 6 May, Sister Johanna retired or, as the deaconesses say, went into retirement at the motherhouse in Speyer. She was bid farewell in the packed church in Höchen with a large turnout of fellow Christians from both denominations. There was an air of gloom over the upper Höcherberg. And when the church choir under the direction of Luise Quack sang in honour of the departing parish nurse: "Lord, your goodness reaches so far...", many will have sensed the original meaning of this hymn of praise and some may have realised that God's goodness needs good people, at least people of good will, in order to be realised.

Sister Johanna Folz died on 26 June 1992 in Speyer.

Written by: Wolfgang Forthofer

This text was originally written in 2022 for the memorial plaque to Johanna Folz on the playground at the wayside cross in Höchen.

_{Published: 20.03.2026; Last updated: 27.04.2026.}