Robert “Bob” Merrill Herroon

Robert “Bob” Merrill Herroon

Born August 7, 1941 on Kirtland Road in Kirtland Ohio to Hubert Merrill and Frances Agnes (nee
Manross) Herroon. Bob passed away peacefully on July 20, 2022, in the presence of his son.
Robert, “Bob,” Herroon grew up on Glen Park Road in Kirtland. He was well loved by his parents and the
only son of his father. His dad called him “Pal” or sometimes Bobby. Bob often shared how much he
enjoyed his childhood and his neighborhood friends. He attended Kirtland High school where he
excelled in sports, lettering in track, field baseball and basketball. He was both right and left-handed and
used that to his advantage in sports. During the summer after high school, he served as a Temple guide
and worked for a local farmer, picking strawberries.
At the age of 17, immediately following his graduation from high school, Bob enlisted in the Navy,
reporting on July 21, 1959. He attended boot camp until September, and reported to Yeoman A school
in Bainbridge, MD. Bob’s first duty station was in Philadelphia, where he worked for the Lieutenant
Commander of the Fourth Navel District. Less than a year later, Bob was assigned to the USS Kearsarge,
on the west coast, where he worked in the Captain’s office overseeing officers’ service records,
correspondence, and all of the ship’s general communications. His ship was part of the Killer Task Force,
whose main efforts were hunting down and destroying enemy submarines.
After returning from the Navy, he married Beulah L. Kelley in the summer of 1964. Two years later, his
first daughter was born in Long Beach, California, near Westminster, where Bob and “Kelly” resided.
Later that year, he returned to Ohio. His second daughter was born in 1968, followed by a son, born to
him in 1972.
From childhood, Bob was reared in the RLDS church. His parents and maternal grandmother, Ella Bellva
(Burdick) Manross, were part of the restoration movement (Reorganized) of the Kirtland Temple. His
paternal grandfather, Merrill Andrew Herroon was part of the Brigham ideals and moved west with his
wife Adeline, passing away without Bob having met him. As a senior in high school, Bob spent time
typing the manuscript for Earl Curry’s first book, which impacted him significantly. Upon his return from
the Navy in 1963, he served as a Deacon and Temple guide in Kirtland, and taught classes on a variety of
subjects for the RLDS. Bob procured a wealth of knowledge on the historical details of the RLDS and in
1964, now a member of the Priesthood, had many people looking to him for insight, through letters or
visits to Kirtland. In 1969, now an Elder, he was involved in the building of the Temple visitor center,
where his mother Frances continued to serve as a guide until she was 76. Bob served as a Pastor in
Painesville Ohio. He planted a church in Willoughby, OH, where he served as an Assistant Pastor. Bob
would later move to Georgia in the mid 1970’s, and re-established a congregation in Riverdale, where he
served as the Pastor. This congregation originally met in a recreation hall in Georgia. It was there he
began playing table tennis, in his spare time before and after preaching. Only a few years later, while
living in Peachtree city and working at the local Recreation Center, he became the reigning table tennis
champion for that area and held that title for several years, winning several trophies. He moved out of
state before anyone else could claim that trophy. Years later, after moving out of state, Bob ended his
association with the RLDS organization, but enjoyed visiting the churches where his children and friends
attended on occasion.
Bob enjoyed any form of competition, from trivia games to physical sports. He was highly strategic and
loved to employ that wherever possible. For example, when embarking on a road trip, he would try to
beat his time from his last trip by changing up the roads he traveled. As a result, he knew every back
road east of the Mississippi. He was renowned for showing up earlier than his estimated time of arrival,
and took great delight at surprising his mother by being hours early. She was on to that game, and could
not be caught off guard, always ready to greet him with a pot of her famous homemade noodles.
Bob enjoyed taking pictures and home movies. As the years passed, his love for photography became

both a passion and a skill. Bob was rarely found without a camera in his hand or strapped around his
neck. His photographs of landscapes and birds were remarkable and some were used in magazines,
while others were exhibited at art shows in Missouri, Arkansas, and Florida. His photography was
requested to grace the offices of his doctor and others who came across Bob in their places of business.
Bob had a strong work ethic and, throughout his life, frequently worked more than one job at a time
until his retirement, which was easily his favorite season in life. He spent his retirement traveling the
country, taking photos of the people and the places he encountered. He had a love for nature and
enjoyed hiking, walking in the woods or mountains, and loved to hunt for wildlife. His travels included
places like the Grand Canyon, where he was able to shoot images from a friend’s small plane.
He often traveled to Illinois to visit his daughter & friends in the area. He enjoyed the time with his four
grandchildren there, going on bike rides, nature walks, sightseeing and just spending time with the
family. Bob traveled frequently to Florida to visit his daughter and grandchildren there, where he
enjoyed beach combing, kayaking, and fishing trips with the family. In St Louis, he spent time with his
son and family, playing games, puzzles, taking pictures, and travelling together. He lived out the last two
years of his life in the home of his son and family.
Bob enjoyed, taking pictures and video, and became the family photographer, even photographing his
daughter’s wedding in Florida. Bob’s preferred method of travel was by car. He loved to drive. He and
his son spent almost an entire month traveling to all the places that were important to Bob throughout
his life. They traveled from St. Louis to Ohio to Georgia, including a visit to Texas to see his father’s
(Hubert’s) WW2ship, the USS Texas. This trip would inspire him to write his personal history and
autobiography.
To say that Bob was well liked by everyone who met him is an understatement. Bob was a constant
encourager and an enduring optimist. His sense of humor was one of a kind, always quick with a joke or
riddle, he never failed to make people laugh and this afforded him many friends. Bob loved to wear
t-shirts with funny sayings on them; “great conversation starters,” he would say and he imparted his
love of those funny t-shirts to his grandsons. He loved card tricks, mini magic and had a childlike sense of
wonder that remained with him all the days of his life. Bob was a fantastic speaker and writer, and often
used his creative genius to write funny skits which he would perform at gatherings.
As a young teen in high school, Bob was introduced to the poem ‘’Tis the Set of the Sail’ by Ella Wheeler
Wilcox:
One ship sails East, And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.
Like the winds of the sea,
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.
This poem profoundly influenced Bob, who wrote the following in his autobiography.
“For me those lines have become one of the most profound and life strengthening lessons I’ve learned.
Throughout life when things got a little difficult, or things were too good to be true, my mind would
bring these words to my consciousness. They would remind me in whatever position I found myself in, it
was because of the decisions I made or didn’t make; the goals I did or didn’t have or the way I
responded or didn’t respond to those in authority (parents, teachers, God etc.) that had put me there.

Although I would give thanks to God for the Blessings or trials, I was the one responsible for being in the
position to receive either.”
Bob is survived by his daughters, Lisa R (Chuck) Letchworth of Tallahassee FL, Diana M (Jeremy)
Trentham of St Charles IL, and his son Eric (Bridget) Herroon of St Louis, MO and his 11
grandchildren, Heather L Herroon, Kaila A Marano, Alexander Merrill Herroon, Taylor M
Letchworth, Charlie R. Letchworth II, David Trentham, Chloe Trentham, Faith Herroon, Aiden Trentham,
Joshua Trentham, Simeon Herroon, and one great grandson, Callan Drake Taylor and many nieces and
nephews in Arkansas, Michigan and Ohio. Preceded in death by his parents, Hubert Merrill and Frances
Agnes Herroon, his half-sister June Darlene (nee Douglas) Miller, and half-brother, Richard Verne
Douglas.
A private memorial will be held by the family.

To plant a tree in memory of Robert "Bob" Merrill Herroon, please visit our Tribute Store.