Biography
Herb J. Redding, 84, passed away October 20, 2010. He was born in Fremont, Ohio, on August 7, 1926, to Charles J. and Ruth D. (Frank) Redding. He was a 1944 graduate of Fremont St. Joseph High School and served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1950 with a B.S. in Education and in 1958 with a Master of Education. He was a member of the BGSU College of Education Advisory Council for many years. His first teaching position was at Lorain St. Mary High School, where he was also the head football, head basketball, and head track coach. His tenure there was just two years (1950-52), but the friendships he made with his students and players were long lasting; they loved to invite him to, and he loved to attend, all of their reunions.
His next position, at Gibsonburg Exempted Village Schools, lasted 29 years. He first served as a teacher and the head baseball, head track, reserve basketball, and head football coach. After his first year at Gibsonburg, he and the former Mary A. Wiegman, a Fremont Ross graduate, were married on August 8, 1953. He coached the SBC Football Champs in 1954 and 1958 and the Seaway Football Champs in 1960 and 1962. He was selected as the Assistant Coach of the North All Stars in 1955 (North 26—South 13). He served as the Sandusky Bay Conference President (1957-58). He was named Ohio Class A “Coach of the Year” by the Associated Press in 1958. During his coaching tenure, in 1961, he was also named Gibsonburg High School (7-12) Principal, and he served in both capacities for several years. In 1968, he was named Gibsonburg Exempted Village Schools Superintendent, and he retired from that position in 1981. His are the longest tenures in the history of Gibsonburg Schools: Superintendent of Schools (13 years), school administrator (20 years), and head football coach (14 years). He enjoyed speaking at the many, many Gibsonburg class reunions he attended over the years.
After retiring from Gibsonburg Schools, he served as principal and as a teacher at Millersville St. Mary. His last teaching position was at the University of Toledo as a part-time mathematics instructor (1989-1994).
In 1996, Gibsonburg Schools honored him by naming the 1929 building the Herb J. Redding Building. When the new middle school-high school was built, Gibsonburg Schools furthered honored him by naming it the Herb J. Redding—A. N. Welter School complex (Welter was the superintendent who had hired Redding in 1952 and for whom another school building had been named). Redding was also honored by his alma mater as a St. Joseph Central Catholic 2002 Heritage Award recipient and a 2006 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee.
He was predeceased by brothers Jack, Charlie, Lamar, and Bill, a sister, Anna Rose Blaise. and a stillborn son, Joseph.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, his daughter, Marcia Jo Redding-Sanders, his son-in-law, Jim Sanders, and his four grandchildren, Christopher James, Patrick Joseph, Mattthew Jordan, and Caitlin Mary.
The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, direct memorials be made to the Gibsonburg Educational Foundation, the Herb J. Redding Scholarship Fund.