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2009 SESSION


SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 504
Celebrating the life of Herman Ginther.
 
Agreed to by the Senate, February 25, 2009
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 27, 2009
 

WHEREAS, Herman Ginther of Brookneal, the former owner and editor of the Union Star, died on November 2, 2008; and

WHEREAS, Herman Ginther was born on December 14, 1908, to Benjamin Franklin Ginther and Etta Portis Ginther and came with his family to the Brookneal area when he was six years old, graduated from Brookneal High School in 1925, and attended the University of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Herman Ginther moved to Richmond during the Great Depression, where he married the love of his life, the now late Elizabeth LaPrade, and began work as a talented graphic artist until the attacks on Pearl Harbor; and

WHEREAS, Herman Ginther proudly served four years as a captain in the United States Army during World War II; he was stationed in the Philippines; and

WHEREAS, after the war, Herman Ginther returned to his beloved Brookneal to work at the Union Star, where his father was the owner; and

WHEREAS, after his father’s death, Herman Ginther and his brother, Benny, took over the paper with Herman Ginther serving as the revered editor and copublisher from 1950 to 1978; and

WHEREAS, while at the Union Star, Herman Ginther, a gifted writer, also wrote Captain Staunton’s River and Sage of Sugar Hill, compilations of articles about the Brookneal area and short stories; and

WHEREAS, Herman Ginther was also a well known historian and artist as well as an accomplished musician who played the clarinet in local bands and musical organizations from the time he was a teenager until the 1990s; and

WHEREAS, Herman Ginther loved the Brookneal community and was actively involved as a member of the Staunton River Historical Society and National Railway Historical Society; he received the 2008 Brookneal Lions Club Citizenship Award; and

WHEREAS, Herman Ginther’s jovial manner and love of people endeared him to all he met, and he will be sorely missed by his daughter, Beth; other family members and friends; and the citizens of the Town of Brookneal; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the passing of Herman Ginther, the former owner and editor of the Union Star; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Herman Ginther as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for his memory.