Birgitta Anna Katharina Hutig

Birgitta was born in Bad Rothenfelde, near Osnabrück, West Germany on March 27, 1945, the daughter of Franz Josef and Brigitte Maria Hutig (nee Fittkau). Birgitta’s father perished in a Russian prisoner of war camp in 1947. In December of 1951, her mother married Heinz Josef Tolksdorf, and the family immigrated to the United States in January of 1952. In 1953 they settled in Washington, Missouri.

Birgitta graduated from St. Francis Borgia High School in 1963. Upon receiving her Bachelor of Music degree from Fontbonne College in 1967, she embarked on a modeling and acting career. She appeared in national print ads for Lillet, Sanka, and L’Oreal. She performed at the Drury Lane Theater and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, off-Broadway at the Triangle Theatre Company, and played the title role in the national tour of the comic play “The Secretary Bird.”

From 1975-1980, she lived in New York and played a long-running character on a CBS television daily soap opera. In 1981, she moved to Paris. In 1986, she was an American representative for the “Committee for the Restoration of the Statue of Liberty.”

After moving back to the United States, Birgitta worked for many years at Saks Fifth Avenue. Most recently she treasured the people she worked with at Ken Miesner’s Flower Shoppe.

Birgitta is survived by her siblings Michael Tolksdorf, Matthias (Teresa) Tolksdorf, Barbara (Roger) Winfrey, and Christa (Phillip) Dvorak. Predeceasing her were one brother, Heinz G. Tolksdorf, and her mother and adoptive father.

A funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, October 10 at 10:00 a.m. at Church of the Annunziata, 9305 Clayton Road, Ladue, MO 63124.

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