Obituary for James W Herr

AUSTINTOWN – Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013, at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 119 Stadium Drive, Boardman, for James Wesley Herr, 66, who died Tuesday at his residence.

He was born on Friday the 13th of June 1947, to Wesley and Margaret McMurray Stanners Herr. He was a direct descendant of the Anderson and DeCamp families, pioneers of Liberty, Boardman and Austintown. He lived in the U.S. Canal Zone as a boy when his father was employed by the Panama Canal Company and had an extended trip to Scotland, where his mother was born, that inspired his love for world travel.

He was a 1965 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Union College and Master of Science in Education from Youngstown State University.

Mr. Herr taught History  and in the gifted Reading-Discussion-Enrichment (RDE) Program at Fitch for 30 years and then was an instructor for 13 years at ITT Technical Institute in General Education at the Youngstown campus and online. Jim was a Jennings Scholar and a Taft Fellow. While at Fitch, Mr. Herr was named the teacher of the year by the National Honor Society and was both the instructor and employee of the quarter on different occasions at ITT.

He was a life member of Phi Delta Kappa, Friends of the Austintown, Maag and McKinley Library Associations, the Austintown, Boardman, Liberty, Mahoning Valley, Lancaster Mennonite  and Ohio Historical Societies. He was a member of the Armchair Travelers, Mahoning Valley Civil War Roundtable, Ohio Cultural Alliance and the YMCA. He served for many years of the Board of Visitors to the Beeghly College of Education at YSU, where he was a life member of the Alumni Association. He was a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, where he had served as lay leader, Moderator of the Deacons and an Elder on Session.

Jim is survived by his brother, Thomas J. (Kate) Herr, and niece Megan M (Nathan) Lester, all of Richmond, Va.; a nephew, Garth W. Herr of Charleston, S.C.; a great-nephew, Thomas Hoke Lester of Richmond; and two great-nieces, Brogan Zay Lester of Richmond and Ella Roselynn Herr of Charleston.

Friends may call on Monday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Lane Family Funeral Homes, Canfield Chapel, 65 N. Broad St., and Tuesday morning from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Westminster Presbyterian Church.

The family requests material tributes take the form of contributions to his ancestral home, the 1719 Hans Herr House and Museum Foundation of the Lancaster Mennonite Society, 1849 Hans Herr Drive, Willow Street, PA 17602; the Herr Family Scottish Arts Scholarship Endowment of the College of Wooster, c/o the Development Office, Galpin Hall, 1101 N. Bever St., Wooster, OH 44691; or to the Memorial Fund of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 119 Stadium Drive, Boardman, OH 44512.

Interment will be at Green Haven Memorial Gardens.

Arrangements are entrusted to the Lane Family Funeral Homes, Canfield Chapel

Family and friends may visit www.lanefuneralhomes.com to view this obituary and send condolences