KENNETH HERRING

Kenneth Herring, age 89, of Panama City Beach, FL, and formerly of Donalsonville, GA, passed away Tuesday evening, Nov. 14, 2023, at his home surrounded by his loving family.

Funeral services for Mr. Herring will be held on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, at 2:00 PM at First Baptist Church of Donalsonville with Rev. Ramon Duvall and Rev. Michael Wingertsahn officiating.  Interment will follow in Chason Cemetery on Three Notch Road in Iron City, GA with military honors being presented.  Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at 1:00 PM at First Baptist Church of Donalsonville. 

Mr. Herring was born in Colquitt, GA on April 22, 1934, to Wallace and Ola Helms Herring. He was raised in Seminole County, GA where he graduated from Seminole County High School.  Kenneth married his high school sweetheart, Annette Braswell, right before joining the Air Force.  He served at Gunter Air Force base in Montgomery and then transferred to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs before returning to Gunter.  When they returned to Montgomery, he and Annette became Christians and were active members of Chisholm Baptist Church.  After that, family life centered around serving Jesus and the churches they joined.

Their last move with the Air Force was to San Antonio, Texas, where they lived until he retired after 22 years of military service.  He loved living in San Antonio and the friends they made at Highland Hills Baptist Church.  So many times, in the last few years, he would talk about the wonderful times they had in San Antonio.  Many of their family came to visit during the summer of 1968 when San Antonio hosted Hemisphere World Fair.  After retiring from the military, he went to work for Texaco in Houston, Texas.  They moved to Katy, and joined Kingsland Baptist Church, a church that was just beginning to form.  They made lifelong friends before moving back to Georgia and the home they built on Spring Creek.  They became active members at First Baptist Church in Donalsonville and Kenneth took a job at Merchants and Farmers Bank as a liaison to the community.  His job there allowed him to visit with people, many of those retiring around Lake Seminole.  He was perfectly suited for that job and loved doing it.

 After the death of Annette in 1995, he found happiness again with Faye Newsome Bush and they married in 1997.  Together, they both retired and moved to Panama City Beach and built their retirement home.  Again, they became active members at Beachside Fellowship.  They traveled often with friends and family.  Together he and Faye made the trips to the last two states he had never visited, Alaska and Idaho.  The trip to Alaska was made with their dear friends, Kay and Christopher Thomas, a trip which Kenneth and Christopher planned.  After that trip, Kenneth left all planning of trips to Faye.  As the time for stepping into Heaven became closer, Kenneth said he was ready to go, but he wanted Faye to go with him.  The family believes that he wondered if he could get there without her help.

Kenneth never met a stranger and loved visiting people.  Often on trips, he would find a place to sit and visit with whoever sat next to him.  Within a few minutes of talking, he would know all about them and would even ask if they knew someone he had known from their hometown.  On one business trip, he met someone that told him he was from a small town in Georgia that no one had ever heard of.  When the young man said Jakin, Georgia, Kenneth asked if he knew so and so from there.  The stranger couldn’t believe he met someone that grew up miles from his hometown.  Another friend made!

Mr. Herring leaves to cherish his memory, his wife, Faye Newsome Herring; his daughter, Cathy Herring Aulds and her husband Scott, his son, William Wallace Herring and his wife Kerry; his grandsons, Bryan Aulds and his wife Jennifer, Colin Aulds and his wife Van, and Michael Kenneth “Kenny” Herring; his great grandchildren, Trey, Annabel, Rowan, Daphne, and Pierce Aulds; as well as many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Wallace and Ola Helms Herring; his wife, Annette Herring; and his son, Kenneth Michael Herring.