Herbert Leonard Mager's Obituary
Herbert L. Mager of Tavares died in Tavares, Florida, on September 18, 2018, at the age of 97. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 2, 1921, he was the son of John and Katherine Roth Mager, both of whom had grown up in an ethnic German village in the Tatra Mountains of what is now Slovakia. Throughout his life Herb was always proud of his German heritage.
Herb was the last survivor of five siblings, all of whom had their goals and attitudes shaped by the Great Depression of the 1930's. After Herb graduated from James Ford Rhodes High School in 1938, there was no possibility of his attending college, so he started his first full-time job alongside his dad, a skilled baker.
At Rhodes he had met his future wife, Daisy Herzog. They were married in 1941 to start an adventure that lasted seventy-seven years. After Pearl Harbor Herb enlisted in the US Navy. While he was in uniform, their first child, Herb Jr., was born. In the early 1950's their daughter, Debbie, was born.
Returning to Cleveland after the War, Herb briefly attended college, but the demands of work and family made it too difficult for him to continue. Through the thrift and perseverance that Herb and Daisy had learned in the Depression, they saved enough for him to open his own business, a service station in the neighborhood where they had grown up. Daisy worked at home as a free-lance creator of children's activity books.
In 1952 the family moved to Florida, where Herb had been assigned for a period during the War. After two years they returned to Cleveland, where he opened a larger service station
But the dream of college was still present. In 1961, while their son was in college and their daughter in elementary school, they threw over their careers and at the age of forty both enrolled at Western Reserve University in Cleveland with the goal of becoming teachers. After completing bachelor's and master's degrees while living off their savings, they joined the faculty at Brecksville High School in Brecksville, Ohio, to teach biology together. For the next seventeen years they put their educations to the best use that they could imagine, excited to be working side by side.
Although they had lived most of their lives in greater Cleveland, Florida still called to them. So in 1982 Herb and Daisy retired and moved to Tavares. They became involved in many local activities, including the Trout Lake Nature Center in Eustis. They had traveled as much as they could while teaching and continued to do so after the move. Their legion of friends and caring neighbors made Tavares feel like home. It was only months before Herb's passing away that they finally left Lois Drive.
He refused to take much credit for living so long, but he was justifiably proud of his and Daisy's educational and professional attainments, their long and successful marriage, and their children's and grandchildren's successes.
Herb is survived by his wife, Daisy; his son, Herb Jr.; his daughter Debbie and her husband, Matt; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
Arrangements are being handled by Steverson Hamlin & Hilbish Funerals and Cremations in Tavares. A future memorial service is planned. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Trout Lake Nature Center Inc., 520 East County Road 44, Eustis, FL 32736.
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