Jack Herman

Eulogy What Does that mean : A speech or writing that praises someone highly. How can you put into words 90 years of a mans life?

To start he came from a tough beginning. His mother died a few months after his birth and his father died when he was 16.  The next year, 1945 he joined the Army and served in occupied Germany. After returning home he finished his engineering degree from Bowling Green and worked at a few places before he joined NASA during the space race.

He married my mother in 1955 and in 1957 had my sister Janice Herman. Three years later I was born Mark Herman and 13 years after that he had his youngest son Scott Herman.  From those children he has 8 grand children; Brittni Alcantera (31),Gage  Herman(28), Grere Herman(25), Caityln  Leo (24), Peyton Herman (17), Colten  Herman (15),Brock Herman (13);  4 Great Grandchildren Bradlee Alcantera (8), Gracein Herman (6),Jai  Herman (2), Kieran Henson (2).  Each and every one of them found grandpa/great-grandpa a real piece of work.  His beliefs never wavered.  The same things he told his children were the same things he told his great-grandchildren.

His life was one of amazing timing, joining the Army after Germany’s surrender, working at NASA at the height of their popularity and working for the Cleveland Indians after retirement when they won 6 Central division titles 2 American League Championships and 2 World Series appearances.  His true love was sports.  he played baseball at a high level and once told me a story of how in a tryout league he caught a ball off the bat of Mickey Mantle.  He then played fast pitch softball.  He was a Browns, Indians and Cavilers fan his whole life.  Together we attended Browns games from 1965 to 1979, were at the first Cavs game and went to every Indians home opener.  During my childhood he coached our little league team to multiple championships, as a coach he was cerebral using words that 12 year olds did not understand like “ your playing lackadaisical “ it made us go home and look it up in the dictionary.  He did his best and I will always appreciate the time spent together. He really loved animals and he became a professional dog handler taking our Standard Schnauzer “ Kristina Von Herman “ to 4 consecutive best of breed and 2 best of show championships.

In the 1980’s he became a single parent and raised my brother literally by himself. This In itself was a difficult job.

Throughout his life he had opportunities to leave the Cleveland area but always chose to stay.  He has outlived his brothers and sisters and ironically passed away on his sister Deloris birthday May 25, 2018.  We all will miss his colorful way he approached life.