Charles Herrmann was born in Kiel, Germany, migrated to San Francisco in 1910, and found employment in the Bristol Bay area of Alaska.
[3] Adelheid was born in Levelock, Alaska on April 15, 1953,[4] and grew up in Naknek, where she attended Bristol Bay High School (1966-1970).
[5] She earned a degree in public policy, fisheries, and Native American studies (1999) from Antioch University and a D.Ed.
in organizational leadership with an emphasis in fisheries and oceans (2013) from the University of La Verne in California.
[1][6][7] As of February 2025[update] she is a post-doctoral research assistant at the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where her areas of expertise are climate adaptation and social science;[8] she is working on a project "with the goal of building the capacity of rural communities to respond and adapt to climate change"[9] She is also a member of the Council of Elders of Alaska Pacific University, a body whose mission is "to support, strengthen, and ensure the development, integration, and prioritization of encompassing Alaska Native knowledge, language, values, perspectives, history, and concerns in education at Alaska Pacific University".