ELKINS — Both local and national leaders are remembering Willard Herron, a longtime Randolph County businessman and governmental official who passed away this week at age 94.

“In public service, you meet a lot of good people and sometimes you meet great ones,” U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said of Herron. “Willard was a dedicated community leader, father and husband, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had such a supportive friend.

“Willard was affectionately known as Mr. Elkins through his service as an Elkins City Councilman, the Mayor of Elkins, a County Commissioner for Randolph County and Sheriff of Randolph County,” Manchin said.

“His passing is a tremendous loss for our entire state and his legacy will never be forgotten. Gayle and I join all West Virginians in extending our deepest condolences to Willard’s son, Steve, his grandchildren, great grandchildren and all of his loved ones as they mourn this terrible loss,” Manchin said.

“Willard Herron wore many hats throughout his life,” U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said. “Whether it was husband, father, councilman, mayor, county commissioner, or Randolph County Sheriff — just to name a few — there is no question that Willard made a difference in his community.

“Charlie and I were so sad to learn of his passing, but we are grateful for his dedicated and selfless service to Elkins and the entire state of West Virginia,” Capito said.

“Willard Herron’s passing marks the end of an era for Elkins and Randolph County,” Gov. Jim Justice said. “Throughout his long and accomplished life, Willard was a leader who dedicated himself to serving the people of the region. His lengthy list of contributions to the area and extensive involvement in local government and civic organizations made him a true pillar of the community.

“Willard will be remembered for his unwavering commitment to making Elkins and Randolph County a better place for everyone,” Justice said. “His legacy will continue to inspire and guide us for generations to come.”

Former Randolph County Delegate Bill Hartman shared memories of his years working alongside Herron on public projects.

“I’ve known Willard almost since he moved to Elkins, and I’ve worked with him a great deal, for the community, with the Forest Festival,” Hartman said. “He was a real good public servant. He’d served on City Council and as mayor, as the sheriff and on the county commission.

“He was always very honorable in his decisions. I think we need more people in government like Willard today.

“When he was on the county commission, there were always issues that overlapped with issues that were going on in the Legislature,” Hartman said. “He was very pleasant to work with and could always find the middle ground on issues. He was always able to resolve whatever the problems were.

“Willard was really a good guy, and a good businessman. I never knew anything negative at all about him. We’re going to miss him.”

Former state senator Mike Ross called Herron “a true West Virginian.”

“I’ve known Willard for 50 years, at least,” Ross said. “I worked with him on many projects over the years, and I always found him very easy to work with. He was a very good public servant when he was in elective office. He was good for the area.

“I know his family and worked with them at the ball fields, helping kids all around town. They always came to the fundraiser spaghetti dinners at Coalton every year. They were active in the area.

“He was a true West Virginian. He came to this area from Weston and liked the area, raised a family here, started a business here,” Ross said. “He was committed to helping the community. He was a good man.”

Current Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon said he got his start as a deputy under Herron.

“When Willard was the sheriff, he hired me as a deputy, from out of the county jail and moved me out on the road as a deputy,” Elbon said.

“He was a working sheriff. He did transports and things like that to help out, because there were only like five deputies at the time. He always would do things like that to help out. He enjoyed being the sheriff.

“He taught me about the responsibilities of the money and the budget. He was a little tight, I always picked on him about that,” Elbon said with a chuckle. “He was very frugal. He didn’t want to waste any of the taxpayers’ money on unnecessary things.

“He bought us new guns one time. With the magazines in the guns, they would hold 33 rounds. When I went to pick my weapon up, it was on my desk, and he had counted out 33 rounds for me, instead of giving me a box of 50,” he said with a laugh. “He gave us all 33. He was a stickler about those kinds of things.

“He was concerned about the taxpayers and being frugal with the money and the budget that he had. I joked about that with the deputies not too long ago, because when they go to qualify with their guns, they use a box of shells. I told them, ‘Hey guys, back in the day, we didn’t get a whole box, we got just the right amount.'”

Elbon said he and the current county deputies will serve as Herron’s pallbearers at his funeral on Saturday.

“We feel like we owe him that, to help send him off, after all he did,” Elbon said.

Rick George, a former Randolph County magistrate and deputy, also worked closely with Herron.

“I’ve known him since back in the 70s, close to 50 years or better,” George said. “When he was the sheriff, I came back as a deputy. I had left and Willard asked me to come back, so I worked for him until I became a magistrate.

“Willard was a good man, he was a good boss. He wasn’t one to sit behind the desk all day and then go home. He worked with the deputies. There were only a few of us back then,” George said. “He came out and worked right alongside of us.

“Willard was probably the main one to help get the magistrate court out of the bottom of the county courthouse, and put us across the street in the building where the unemployment office used to be.

“We’d had no room down in the basement. It was so crowded, just packed in. They had the old coal furnace against the wall. If you wore a white shirt to work in the morning, by the end of the day it was black,” George said with a laugh.

“Willard even had some of the jail trustees help fix the building up for us, so we could use it as the magistrate court.

“Willard was a good sheriff and a good county commissioner. And he was a good friend to me over the years,” George said.

Longtime Elkins businessman Bob Wamsley was Herron’s neighbor more than 50 years ago.

“I lived across from Willard back in the 1960s. I’ve been good friends with him ever since,” Wamsley said.

“We worked together on the Forest Festival, and when he opened his men’s store, I was a regular customer and over the years we spent a lot of time together.

“In the last few years, we’d go to the auctions and buy cars and drive them back, and he would go with us and drive a car back for us,” Wamsley said. “He did that with us for quite a few years. He enjoyed it.

“Back in the ’60s, his whole family was right across the street from us, his wife Toni and his boys, Mike and Steve. Willard was a great guy, and he’ll be surely missed.”

Herron’s former pastor, Dr. Basil A. Hensley, a retired pastor of First United Methodist Church in Elkins, said he considered a Herron a great friend.

“I’ve known Willard Herron for 40-plus years. I was his pastor for 23 years,” Hensley said. “When I came to Elkins, he was one of the first people I met. He was such a warm, welcoming person and gave me words of encouragement. For all the time, through all the years I’ve been here, he was that kind of man.

“He was a devout, church-going Christian. In the church we show our loyalty to the church by our prayers, our gifts, our attendance, our service. And Willard was there almost every Sunday. He lived up to his obligation.

“The crown jewel of his life was his wife, Toni. It’s hard for me to talk about Willard without thinking of both Willard and Toni, almost in the same word,” Hensley said.

“He was a person that I could rely on, and a person who I regarded as a tremendous friend. A man of integrity and honesty, and a person who wanted to help the world. He was always working to build a better community, always reaching out to serve, not to take. He was a giver.

“I will miss him very much,” Hensley said. “His family were such a joy to my life. Through it all, he maintained his faith. He and I had a great rapport together. I love him, and I thank God for the journey we shared.”

Herron and his wife, Toni, had celebrated 71 years of marriage prior to her passing in 2021. They had two sons, the late Mike Herron, and Steve Herron, the publisher of The Inter-Mountain. They also had three granddaughters and five great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at The Tomblyn Funeral Home of Elkins on Saturday at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at The American Legion’s Little Arlington Cemetery in Harpertown.