Herman Thomas Voelkner

Herman Thomas Voelkner, age 88, of Fort Myers, Florida, formerly of Clifton for over twenty-five years, passed Sunday, June 14, 2020.

He was born to Herman and Marie Voelkner in Paterson New Jersey.  Herman was raised at 25 Goshen Street in South Paterson where he graduated from Paterson Technical High School with the Class of 1949.

From 1950 through 1951 Herman worked as a Floor Manager for the Haband & Co. in Paterson. He enlisted in the United States Army and began his service on April 12, 1951 in Newark, NJ during the Korean War.  For most of his service he was stationed in Austria and Germany. He was Honorably Discharged from the Army as a Sergeant after three years of service and received the Army of Occupation Medal – Germany, and the National Service Medal.  After his service in the Army Herman found work at the Insulfab Plastics Company in East Rutherford, NJ.  He would work at Insulfab for thirty-six years before he retired as a Plant Manager in 1991.

Herman’s family had a party for him when he was discharged from the Army, where he met a beautiful girl named Mary Lou Stoehr.  Their first date was to one of Herman’s friend’s wedding and they soon fell in love.  They married on July 23, 1955 at St George Church in Paterson, had a reception at the Robin Hood Inn in Clifton, and honeymooned at Niagara Falls, New York. When they first married they lived in Richfield Village in Clifton and then bought a home on Maple Hill Road in Clifton where they raised their family before retiring to Fort Myers, Florida. Herman and Mary Lou have enjoyed sixty-five years of a loving and caring marriage.

Herman was deeply dedicated to his Catholic faith and was a member of the Knights of Columbus.  For many years he served as an usher, lector, on the finance board, and with the Boy Scout Troop 21 with St. Philip Church in Clifton. Herman’s sons have fond memories of Scouting and overnight trips to Camp Aheka in Towaco, NJ.

He was a dedicated family man and will be lovingly remembered for being efficient, responsible, and a fun loving man.  When Herman was just nine years old, his brother Tom was five, and his mother was nine months pregnant, his father tragically passed away in a truck accident.  Upon coming home from his father’s funeral his mother told him he was now the man of the house. Herman, trying to bring income into the house, had three paper routes to help make ends meet.

He was the loving husband of sixty-five years to Mary Lou Voelkner; devoted father of Herman T. Voelkner, Jr. of Savannah, GA, J. William Voelkner and his wife Rae-Ann Aldrich-Voelkner of Warrenton, VA, Patrick E. Voelkner of Little Falls, and Susan Voelkner of Pompton Lakes; he was the cherished grandfather of Kathryn Voelkner-Silvis and her husband Nicholas Silvis, and Megan Voelkner; cherished great-grandfather of Madison Silvis and Jackson Silvis; dearly loved brother of William D. Voelkner and his late wife Sue of Henderson, NV and the late Thomas Voelkner (d.12/2013) and his late wife Jean (d. 1/2015).

In lieu of flowers memorial donations to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital would be greatly appreciated.