Aug. 14, 1925 – Nov. 25, 2015
Funeral services for Harry Robert “Bob” Herring will be Friday, Dec. 4 at 10:30 a.m., at the Encampment Presbyterian Church. Military graveside services are also planned at the Encampment Cemetery. He died Nov. 25 at age 90.
Mr. Herring was born Aug. 14, 1925, the third son born to Gladys Fisher Herring and George Ellis Herring in Encampment. He was educated in Encampment and graduated from high school there in 1943.
He worked for a timber company after graduation and one day during lunch break he commented he wished he would hear from the draft board, knowing that the country was at war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in December 1941. His boss said that wouldn’t happen as he had gone to Rawlins and had him deferred. Herring said, “You can’t do that to me” and quit right then.
He went to Cheyenne and was sent on to Denver where he was sworn into the Navy at the new customs house Jan. 7, 1944. He was sent to Farragut, Idaho, where he went through boot camp. He then reported to Camp Shoemaker, Calif. From there he was put on the USS Essex and sent to Pearl Harbor. Then he attended a radio school in Waikiki. He was transferred to Pearl Harbor and stationed in the administration building in the district communications office. While working there he met Barbara Fischer. She was later to become his wife having a long and happy 66-year marriage.
They had one son, Robert J. and four granddaughters, Lenessa, twins Rachel and Ramona, and Kendra.
When Bob and Bobbie married in Honolulu they both took discharges from the Navy and worked as civilians until December 1946. Then they moved to Nebraska City, Neb., staying there until after their son was born. Then they returned to Encampment, where he went to work for the Finch Cattle Co. for five years before they moved to Franktown, Colo., where Bob was manager of a ranch for three years.
Leaving Franktown they moved to Lakewood, Colo., where he went into construction doing masonry work. He worked on fancy homes, courthouses, municipal buildings, and schools in the Denver area. He also contracted masonry work on homes in Vail, Colo., when building first started there.
In 1965 they returned to Encampment where they owned and operated the Sugar Bowl, building a very successful business, running it for 11 years before selling out in 1977. He later worked as night auditor and manager of the Saratoga Inn, the Golden Spike Motel in Rawlins, and The Store in Bairoil before returning to Encampment where he worked for Fox Vyvey, Montie Munroe and Bill Saulcy, running the cow camp and riding for their forest grazing leases in Hog Park in the summer, which he did for four summers.
Mr. Herring helped start the Encampment ambulance service and served as one of the eight original EMTs in the town. He belonged to the Encampment Riverside Lions Club, served as Worthy Patron of the OES Chapter 17, was on the Grand Encampment Museum Board for many years, and laid the cornerstone for the Doc Culleton Interpretive Center in 1966. He was a charter member, along with his wife and son, of VFW Post 6125. He put his masonry skills to work in building the entryway to the Encampment Cemetery and on a veteran’s memorial at Grand View Park.
He is survived by a large and loving family including son Robert J. (Rosalyn), of Encampment; granddaughters Lenessa Keehn (Josh), of Deadwood, S.D .; Ramona Quick (Donnie), and Rachel Shepherd (Anthony), both of Craig, Colo .; and Kendra Uken (Rich), of Wakefield, Kan .; and nine great-grandchildren, Abigail and Allison Keehn, Cayman and Decklon Shepherd, Sharon and Donnie Joe Quick, and Trevor, Wyatt and Lorelei Uken; brothers George Herring, of Laramie, Orville Herring, of Montrose, Colo., Francis Herring, of Encampment, John William Herring, of Wheatland, and Stuart Herring, of Wright; sisters Betty Vyvey and LeDawn Vorn, of Encampment, Margaret Clabaugh of Powell, Patricia Jane Stites, of Martinez, Calif., and Nancy Pitre, of Omaha, Neb., and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara “Bobbie;” brothers, Kenneth, Lloyd, Eugene and Earl; and a sister, Cheryl Hooker.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Grandma’s Cabin (P.O. Box 513, Encampment, Wyo.); Grand Encampment Museum (P.O. Box 43, Encampment, Wyo.); Sagebrush Senior Center, or a charity of choice.
Tributes and condolences may be offered online at http://www.carboncountyfuneralhome.com.
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