Content area
Mr. [Geoffrey L] Herr, a native of Lancaster, and Miss Smith, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, met at Clarion University (then Clarion State Teachers College) at a USO dance. Mr. Herr was a U.S. Army Air Corps cadet assigned to the 337th Training Detachment at Clarion, and Miss Smith was a student. Mr. Herr had entered the military in October 1942, and, after serving 11 months in the 119th Regiment of the 30th Infantry Division, transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps for air crew training.
THEN AND NOW
JACOB HERR may have asked Anne Smith's best friend to dance, but he really wanted to meet Miss Smith.
"I think (my friend's) words were something like "I danced with the best looking red-head on Saturday night ... then he asked to meet you,' " recalls the former Miss Smith.
After all, Mr. Herr wound up giving Miss Smith two engagement rings.
Mr. Herr, a native of Lancaster, and Miss Smith, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, met at Clarion University (then Clarion State Teachers College) at a USO dance. Mr. Herr was a U.S. Army Air Corps cadet assigned to the 337th Training Detachment at Clarion, and Miss Smith was a student. Mr. Herr had entered the military in October 1942, and, after serving 11 months in the 119th Regiment of the 30th Infantry Division, transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps for air crew training.
"After a year in the infantry (Miss Smith) looked pretty good," he quips.
The fact is, Mr. Herr was smitten. Not long after the two met, he offered Miss Smith an engagement ring, but she returned it because she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. "Then I decided I did want to marry him so I called him and said "yes.' "
After Mr. Herr earned his wings and commission, he realized that if he were married he would make another $100 a month.
"I don't remember when I got the second ring, but Jake called me in February 1945, when I was teaching school in Oil City, Pa., and said he could make more money if we were married - terribly romantic - and so we were on March 2, 1945," she says.
"I always kidded her that I married her for her money," he says. "Looking back 50 years I would say it was a pretty good investment decision."
Mr. and Mrs. Herr were married in Fort Myers, Fla., by the Rev. Thomas C. Smart in a small ceremony attended by family members and Mr. Herr's Air Corps friends.
On Friday, March 31, the Herrs, who live at 354 Manor Ave., Millersville, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with family members at the Lancaster Country Club.
As a boy, Mr. Herr worked in the family printing business, L.B. Herr and Son (now Herr's Office Products), delivering packages and sweeping. "The worst part was cleaning up the printing waste and the tobacco juice that the pressmen also deposited in the waste boxes," he recalls.
After he graduated from high school, he worked in the business full time until he entered the military.
After the Herrs were married, they lived in the Royal Palms Hotel in Fort Myers for about three months, and then in an assortment of hotels and motels until they got their first house in Albuquerque, N.M. "for the great rent of $42 and change per month," he says. "After the surrender of Japan in 1945, there was little use for a B29 bombardier and we came home in December 1945."
Mr. Herr returned to the family business in Lancaster, retiring as president in January 1987.
Mrs. Herr started out working as a legal secretary for her husband's uncle. She then began doing commercials for WGAL-TV (then located on South Queen Street) and worked her way up to weather girl for the Bell Telephone-sponsored weather forecast (at the new station on Columbia Avenue.) After a few years of doing the weather and writing and performing special on-air programs, she took the job of interviewer on "Noonday on 8," and then became woman's program director. Mrs. Herr left the television station in 1981.
Mr. and Mrs. Herr both consider themselves "partially retired."
After Mr. Herr "retired," he took on several part-time jobs, and now refinishes antique furniture. Mr. Herr, who also likes traveling and woodworking, is in his seventh year as a councilman on the Millersville Borough Council.
"I am always busy fixing, painting, doing yard work, attending borough council meetings and planning my next fishing expedition," he says.
Since Mrs. Herr left WGAL, she has guided tours in Lancaster County and surrounding areas, including Gettysburg and Hershey, and has done theater work on and off-stage for Rainbow Productions and Ephrata Performing Arts. In 1993, she published "The Adventures of Mr. Scoodle-Do," an anthology of children's magazine stories, which Mr. Herr now helps her promote.
"I also enjoy historical characters and interpreting them in one-woman portrayals (she was Edward Hand's mother-in-law, Sarah Ewing, at a 1994 tour at Historic Rock Ford) and fashion design and occasional interior decoration," says Mrs. Herr.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Herr enjoy manning their co-op antique stand at the Antique Market-Place, Ronks, every two or three weeks.
The Herrs are members of Bethany Presbyterian Church. They have done extensive volunteer work. He has volunteered with the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. She has served on the board of directors for Historic Rock Ford, and as co-chairman of the Kauffman Museum shop and as former chairman of the collections committee. She has also served on the board of directors of the Ephrata Performing Arts Center, and chaired several committees.
The Herrs have one son: Geoffrey L Herr, Millersville, and a granddaughter.
Their secret to a happy marriage?
"Consideration and support for each other's special interests," she says. "Frequent recognition of small successes. Doing things together and remembering special occasions."
"Arguing and then shutting up," he adds, jokingly.
PHOTOS; Caption: Jacob and Anne Herr as they are today, above, and as they were 50 years ago, right. The Herrs celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary March 2.
(Copyright 1995 Lancaster Newspapers)