Ronald E. Herbener

HERBENER, Roland E. "Gene"
Kalamazoo
Formerly of Hillsdale Died December 6, 2008 in Portage, Michigan, Gene Herbener was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on March 5, 1923 to Harry N. Herbener and Helen Miller Herbener. He attended public schools in Newark, Delaware, graduating from high school in 1940. Prior to his entry into the Army of the United States in June 1943, he studied engineering for 2½ years at the University of Delaware. He was particularly proud of his army unit, the 475th Military Police Escort Guard Company, which sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on three round trips during the war bringing back German prisoners-of-war to the States. He wrote of these "non-adventures" in a book that appears on the Internet. After his retirement, he arranged a number of reunions of the company. After the war he completed a B.S. degree in chemistry and earned a teaching certificate at Western Michigan University under the G.I. Bill. He had married Thelma Jean VandenBerg of Kalamazoo while in the service and at the time of his Honorable Discharge from the Army had one son, Dr. Jon Herbener, a pediatrician. The Herbeners had another son, Kurt Herbener, deceased in 1992, and a daughter, Beth Hoffman, who preceded him in death on December 1, 2008. In addition to Jon, one daughter survives, Jane Herbener of Portage. Other survivors include a daughter-in-law, Seibra Mrs. Jon Salisbury Herbener and a granddaughter, Lynne Mrs Jake Neukom of Hillsdale, and a grandson, Ted Hoffman in New Jersey, and three great-grand children. A granddaughter, Holly, died in 1992. Mr. Herbener taught mathematics and science at Fennville Mich. high school for three years before returning to the University of Delaware to earn a M.S. in Organic Chemistry using the balance of his G.I. Bill educational eligibility. He returned to Fennville for a fourth year. He taught in Fennville and Trenton Mich. high schools for a total of 12 years. During this time in the summers he did further graduate work funded by the National Science Foundation this culminating in an M.S.T. in Chemistry Teaching from the University of New Hampshire in 1962. Professor Herbener entered the ranks of college teachers in the fall of 1961 at Hillsdale College Mich. where he was chairman of the chemistry department for 31 years. He pursued research in nitrogen heterocycles as a part of pre-doctoral studies in Chemistry at Ohio University during the 1960s. In addition to his love of Organic Chemistry, in the late '60s he became interested in computers and their application to the teaching of Chemistry. Commencing in the '70s he taught a beginning class in programming, at first in BASIC, later in FORTRAN. This he often referred to as "computing for poets" since it permitted him to teach students from fields other than those in the sciences. He retired from Hillsdale College as Professor Emeritus of Chemistry in 1992. After his retirement Mr. and Mrs. Herbener flew to England, France and Germany. Commencing in 1993 they took several trips to visit his cousins in Germany. Over the duration of three years they took cruises on the Rhine, Mosel, and Danube Rivers. Mrs. Herbener preceded her husband in death in 1997 after more than 52 years of marriage. After retirement, Mr. Herbener was president of the Mitchell Library Board and later an active member of the Hillsdale Community Library Board. He also pursued his interests in digital photography, genealogy and military history. Mr. Herbener has been cremated and his ashes, with military honors, will join those of his wife in Fort Custer National Cemetery. A Memorial Service will be held at a later date.
The family suggests that memorial contributions in Mr. Herbener's memory be made to the Hillsdale Community Library, 11 E. Bacon St., Hillsdale, MI 49242. Local arrangements by Langeland Family Funeral Homes, Portage Chapel, 411 E. Centre Ave. 269 343-1508 Please visit online at www.langelands.com to leave a condolence to the family.