 Gene Herd September 18, 1933 - October 20, 2024 Allen Eugene Herd, better known as Gene or Geno died on October 20, 2024 at Auburn Manor in Chaska, MN. He was born in Green Isle on September 18, 1933 to Clarence and Ann (Sickler) Herd. He had 91 years to impact so many lives. He spent all but 16 years in Green Isle, and said there is no other place he wanted to spend his life. He shared, “my life is simple and I like it that way”. Gene graduated from Glencoe High School in 1952 and enlisted into the United States Army for two years, October of 1953 - October of 1955, followed by business school for two years. He started his one and only career with Northern States Power Company. Gene retired from the Payroll Manager role after 33 years with NSP at the age of 58. He was blessed with a slightly longer time spent retired than he did working. Geno found the love of his life at his brother’s wedding. The twinkle in his eye appeared a bit brighter when he saw the maid of honor. Marge O’Neil was the maid of honor for her sister Eileen, who was getting married to Gene’s brother, Don. Brothers married sisters. Gene and Marge were married for 63 years, rarely leaving each other except for a few annual hunting trips. They had two children, Mary and Mark. Gene was an athlete. A lefty pitcher, a point guard and a running back. He had a hole in one. One day at a golf course, a random golfer drove his cart up to Geno and said “hey, you look like the Pope”. He was then known as the Pope with his Fountain Hills AZ friends. He was likely in the fast lane to heaven with the Pope nickname.
In 2006, Gene was inducted into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame located in St. Cloud. He took great pride in making sure the Green Isle Irish baseball field was in pristine condition for the games. Geno was the supervisor of the maintenance team at the Green Isle baseball park for many years. His team consisted of only himself so it made it easy to boss himself around. He did have a circle of friends to help push a rake around in order to have a chance to solve the world’s problems at the ballpark. He eventually gave out his secret to chalking a straight line so others could take over for him. He was later inducted into the Green Isle Baseball Hall of Fame. Gene will always have a reserved seat in the grandstand at the Green Isle park, second row on the left. He made his TV debut being interviewed for Fox 9 Town Ball Tour in August 2022. You can see the clip on Green Isle Irish Facebook page. Search on Gene Herd video. You’ll see Geno raving about Green Isle baseball and the deep history for our family. Gene was an outdoorsman. He lived his best life in the deer stand and you would always find a Labrador retriever by his side. Family conversations were focused on hunting and sports. The plan for opening deer hunting was discussed for months, even though it was the same drill year after year. Early morning breakfasts with the hunting crew, cleaning ducks and pheasants with the crew, drinking Miller High Life with the crew. Geno loved to spend time at The Farm. Where’s Geno? At The Farm. One hundred acres of hunting land outside of Green Isle, his heaven on earth. He was also involved with the Legion and Knights of Columbus. Geno is survived by his wife, Marge, Daughter, Mary (John) Dolan of Chaska and son, Mark (Bridget) Herd of Chaska. Geno was most proud of his grandkids. He didn’t like to boast about anything, but he found ways to sneak into conversations how much he adored them, Megan (Jack) Cummings, David Dolan, Erin (Kyle) Schumer, Julie (Jayd) Newman, Anna Herd and Connor (Kristina) Herd and Great Grands Ryan, Emily and Nora Newman. He is preceded in death by his parents, sister Merva (Bob) Dressen and brothers, Clarence (Karen) Herd and Don (Eileen) Herd. Complete Obituary
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