Funeral services for Herma Parr, 101, of Jefferson were held April 2, 2022, at Central Christian Church in Jefferson. Interment was at the Jefferson Municipal Cemetery.
Herma Maxine (Hendershott) Parr was born on a farm south of Grand Junction on Aug. 10, 1920, to Baptist parents, Amy (Blanshan) and Oliver Hendershott. She had one sister, Saramae, who was three years older than she.
Herma grew up on the farm. The family always had a large garden and did a lot of canning and cooking. Her mother taught her to cook, sew, and “be frugal”, after all, it was in the time of the Great Depression. She attended school in Dana, but graduated from Grand Junction in 1938 after her parents purchased their farm northeast of town.
She followed her mother’s footsteps, graduating with a teacher’s certificate, allowing her to teach country school. She attended Iowa State Teachers College (now UNI) at Cedar Falls that summer, and Simpson College one summer, and taught for three years in Greenbrier & Bristol Townships. After that she worked four years at the Greene County courthouse as secretary to the county superintendent of schools, who oversaw the 80 country schools in the county. Their office provided all the books, supplies, and materials for all of those schools. She then worked three years for the Rural Electric Cooperative (now Midland Power), and was working there when the new building (which is now the Jefferson city hall) was built.
In September 1946 she and Jim Parr were married after he returned home from his service with the US Army in World War II. Jim was clerk at Joen’s Hardware, and later he and his partner Dick Orris purchased the business, which was re-named Dick & Jim’s Hardware.
She and Jim were blessed with three children, Joan, Dean, and Nancy. The whole family helped in the store in one way or another, and everyone was on board for yearly inventory! Later, after the children were all in school, Herma served as bookkeeper for the store, which was a huge job!
The family enjoyed camping in state parks, and was very involved in church, 4-H, Campfire, Scouts, and the Greene County Fair. Herma loved sewing, cooking, gardening, and taking care of the family. She kept journals of all their trips, and loved re-living those experiences through all of the family picture albums in her later years. There were lots of get togethers with friends and family. The family attended Central Christian Church together nearly every Sunday. Herma and Jim taught Sunday School, and she was an active member of Church Circle and CWF.
Jim passed away in 2002, and in 2009 Herma moved to make her home at Ever Greene Ridge. She moved to The Gardens (assisted living) in 2017, and in February of 2021, she moved to Regency Park Nursing and Rehab, where she was living at the time of her passing.
She had the time of her life at her 101 birthday party last August!
She is survived by her children Joan St. Clair of Scranton, Dean (Jeannie) Parr of Cedar Rapids, and Nancy (Steve) Gettler of Mesa, AZ; eight grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents Oliver and Amy Hendershott; her sister and brother-in-law Saramae and Merle Rowles; her sister-in-law Marjorie Baker Kurth (husbands Short Baker & Gene Kurth); and grandson Christopher Joseph St. Clair.
Memorials are suggested to Greene County Historical Society, Central Christian Church, or Jefferson Public Library.
The family was assisted by Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home, Jefferson.
