Robert Fenninger Herr, Jr.

Robert F Herr, Jr. Was born on August 13, 1934, in Lititz, Pennsylvania. His parents, Robert F Herr Sr., was 20, and his mother Geneva E Kopp Herr was 19 when he was born as their only child. Robert attended a one-room schoolhouse where he received the grade school education and sense of humor that would stand him in good stead for the rest of his long life. He loved to tell the story of rubbing two pennies together to irritate the teacher, who would turn down her hearing aid to avoid the feedback. The boys in the class were then free to pull pranks without detection.Robert's parents founded Herr Welding Supply, a business based on the relationship between the Herr name and the Pennsylvania Dutch and local farmers. It soon bloomed into big business. In about 1949 Robert enrolled in John Harris Highschool across the street from his home, where he was an active musician, playing the trombone, trumpet and coronet. He related a tale of how the school band, playing in the era of Big Band and Swing music, would have so much fun playing that the tapping of the feet of the brass section caused the risers to bounce up and down in rhythm to the music. At his graduation he wanted to be a musician but decided that he should be an electrician instead. He attended DeVry Technical Institute in Chicago, IL and received an associate’s degree in Electronics, Engineering, and Technology.By this time, with his parents separated, Robert enrolled in the armed service. He served in the US Airforce, delighting in the hijinks and camaraderie of his fellow servicemen. He was posted to Greenham Common Air Force base near London, England.  His service job was very important, inspecting the nuclear components of the bombs for NATO forces. Looking back, we now know how dangerous this was, with no protective gear used unless there was a problem in the chunks of radioactive cadmium. Later in life Robert would testify for one of his service buddies who suffered from the effects of doing this job, but luckily Robert himself managed to avoid the ill effects of close contact with radioactive materials.Robert began to visit the music scene in London while stationed there, where he became very proficient at swing dancing. One night he attended a nightclub where he was happily dancing with a girl, when he threw out one of his arms in a dramatic dance move and tangled his cufflinks in the charm bracelet of another beautiful redheaded dancer. This is how he met his first wife Joyce V Smith, the mother of three of his children. Robert and Joyce were married in Lambeth, London, on July 19 of 1958.When Robert was honorably discharged from the Airforce, they returned to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where their first daughter Kerri Lynn Herr was born in 1959. Robert was employed as a truck driver at Herr Welding (located in the state capital) but soon found work as an electrician for a government contractor. He relocated to Gallup New Mexico to work on the nuclear rocket silos built nearby. As an ambitious and highly intelligent man, Robert was soon hired away from government work by a fledgling company called International Business Machines, or IBM, in southern California. His children Lisbeth Ann Herr and William Robert Herr were born there. Robert flourished in the innovative and demanding corporate structure. He liked to joke that IBM was an acronym for "I've Been Moved." Sure enough, he was moved.IBM took Robert and his family to the Endicott New York area (where they lived across the border in Little Meadows, PA), Lexington KY, Boulder CO, Tucson AZ and Mechanicsburg PA. While in Endicott Robert, often called “Ben” by his coworkers after the movie Ben Hurr, was one of a crack team of programmers who helped create the original programming language used with punch cards, and whose work produced the bar codes and retail store scanners so commonly used today. Robert helped write several computer language manuals, and several of his legacy programs are still running for IBM at the time of this writing in 2025.Robert and Joyce eventually divorced, and he retired from IBM. He became a contractor once again, getting the PennDOT driver’s license programming through the Y2K scare, as well as Dauphin Deposit Bank. Dauphin Deposit Bank made him a Vice President, and soon he was moved again to Millsboro, Delaware. He met his second wife Irena (Renie) Tinkler through his devotion to the religion, Eckankar, and adopted her adult daughter, Lisa Herr. Robert and Renie eventually divorced.In 2002, Robert met Trudy Hepner, the couple having been paired on a seniors’ dating app. They married in Las Vegas the last week of December 2004, which proved prophetic as they moved near there after Robert's Parkinson's diagnosis about 20 years later. Their wedding was humorous but elegant, as the bride walked down the aisle in a white satin pantsuit by Ralph Lauren, escorted by an Elvis Presley impersonator, to the tune "Love Me Tender." The couple settled in the Harrisburg area. After Trudy retired from Capital Blue Cross Blue Shield, they moved to Delaware where they settled in what they hoped was their last home in 2016. However, in 2021, after Robert received his Parkinson's diagnosis and Trudy began experiencing memory issues, they relocated just outside Las Vegas in Fort Mojave, Arizona with Trudy's eldest daughter Trula Hepner. Trula promised Robert he would not need to be sent to a nursing home, and with the help of her mother and sister Audrey, she kept her promise.Robert passed peacefully in his sleep from the effects of Parkinson's Disease in the 11th hour of March 17, 2025. Robert is predeceased by his parents Robert F Herr Senior and Geneva Kopp Herr, and stepson Ted Hepner; survived by his wife, Trudy Hepner, his children Kerri (and David) Kessler, Lisbeth Herr (and John) Gelatt, and William R (and Joanna ) Herr, adopted daughter Lisa Herr; stepchildren Trula Hepner, John (Patti) Hepner, and Audrey Sharp, grandchildren Meghan Gelatt, Vincent Yarnell, Corinne Gelatt, Sydney Yarnell, Robert RH Herr, and Siusan (Douglas) Gelatt Turner, great grandchildren Tegen Gelatt, Lucan Turner and Björn Stewart, step grandchildren Molly Leader, Josiah Hepner, Ernesto Hepner, and Lillianna Hepner. He is greatly missed.