Thomas Hubert Herring passed away on May 27, at home in Burton. He was 98 years old.
Tom was born in Terre Haute, Indiana to John and Ruth Herring. He spent his early years on the East Coast and earned a master’s degree in physics from Cornell. After the war, he worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, and the experience made him a life-long anti-war protester. He found his way to Boeing where he worked on space shots, moon landings, a Spanish drill ship, and his favorite project the Morgantown Pennsylvania transit system.
He was a born engineer who never stopped designing and tinkering. Tom moved to Vashon in 1969 and rebuilt an old farmhouse while enduring the ferry commute, of which he said, “the longer the better so long as I can read.” During his retirement of more than 30 years, Tom sailed, carved sculptures, sketched cartoons, traveled. He was always writing; book reviews, travel logs, political blogging, and even a full-length novel.
Tom is survived by siblings Mike Herring and Joan Yeaple, daughters Susan Herring and Roberta Zorzynski, son John, and granddaughters Katelyn and Marta. And by his much-beloved wife of 60 years, Ingeborg. He is preceded in death by brothers John and Pete.
Should you wish, donations may be made in his honor to KUOW radio.
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