Lester LeRoy Herron, 87, was promoted to Heaven, August 14, 2021 after a sudden, brief decline in health. He passed peacefully at home under the care of Emmanuel Hospice with family present. He and Doris have lived at Clark on Franklin for the past 21 months. Lester was born in Rockford, IL in May 1934, and graduated from Rockford West High School in 1952. Les also attended Lincoln Christian College, now Lincoln Christian University, for two years. He married Doris Mae Elliott on March 14, 1953. She was his one and only love! The majority of his work life was with Illinois Bell Telephone from 1952 – 1986 before taking an early retirement. He pursued other interests after that. Les and Doris spent six years in Australia to be near family, and he worked as administrative pastor at Thornlie Church of Christ in Perth, Western Australia. They returned to the US in late 1993 where he worked administratively at the Oaklandon Christian Church, in Indianapolis, IN. Their “5th wheel” era began in early 2003 until 2010 with time spent in Indiana, Texas Gulf coast, Tennessee and Kansas City before settling in Grand Rapids, MI, to be near daughter, Laura and her family. While in Grand Rapids, Les volunteered for many years at Calvary Church, and most recently at Meijer Gardens, but was unable to continue there because of Covid. He was happiest in the presence of family and being of service to others!
He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Doris, daughter Brenda (Steve) Howard, son Douglas (Deena) Herron, daughter Rhonda (Stuart Todd) Horner, daughter Laura (Andy) Hanson, daughter Julie (Ben) Green, 15 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren with another two great-greats on the way. Douglas, Rhonda and Julie reside in Perth, Western Australia, with their families for a total of 30 family members. Brenda resides in Kansas City, MO, and Laura, resides in Grand Rapids, MI.
A live Memorial Service via Zoom is scheduled for Friday, September 24,2021 at 10:30am, eastern time. If you are interested, you will need to have the zoom app on your device and let us know of your interest. We will share the codes with you that will give you access. A recording of the service will be available to watch at your convenience should the timing not work for you. Thanks for all the warm thoughts and prayers for our family upon hearing of dad’s heavenly homecoming! Email lmhanson0314@gmail.com for more information. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Pioneer Bible Translators using this link…https://pioneerbible.org/give/MichaelAndMeganBarton or to Emmanuel Hospice at http://emmanuelhospice.org