James P. McDonald, lifelong Amherst resident and St Benedicts parishioner passed on November 22, 2023 at 88 yrs. of age. Jim was married over 61 years to Joan (Uhl) McDonald. Joan is now in Beachwood Home. Jim leaves four sons and families, James (Beth), Timothy, Peter (Audrey) and Paul. Jim and Joan have 15 Grandchildren and 13 Great Grandchildren. Son of the late Peter and Grace Neupert McDonald. Brother of the late Betty (late Weldon) Jackson and Gerald McDonald.
Jim or Mac was very connected to his Amherst / Eggertsville community. A 1953 grad of Amherst High School. He was a member of Eggertsville Hose Company over 65 years and held numerous leadership positions. Jim, an Air Force reserve veteran, was a member of Amvets Post on Sheridan Dr in Amherst. A life long member of St Benedicts Parish he was a long time member of the Holy Name society and was a past president. After retirement from 40+ years at National Fuel Gas, he especially enjoyed visiting the sick and unwell in his community as he and Joan delivered Meals on Wheels for years. He used to call himself Mr. Sunshine of the Sunshine club.
Jim loved watching the grandchildren play sports in whatever city they were living in. He also loved following everyone else’s children that played sports in Amherst by faithfully watching Amherst sports or reading the Bee.
A visitation for Jim will be held Thursday, November 30, from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Perna, Dengler, Roberts Funeral Home, 1671 Maple Rd, Williamsville. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered Friday, December 1, 10:30 AM at St. Benedict RC Church, 1317 Eggert Rd, Eggertsville. In lieu of flowers, memorials in Jim’s name may be made to the Amherst Amvets Post 49, 3758 Sheridan Dr., Amherst, NY 14226 or the Eggertsville Hose Benevolent Assoc.,1880 Eggert Rd., Amherst, NY 14226.
Norman E. Foster- November 19th, 1930 – November 14th, 2023, age 92, of Snyder, NY, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family and dear loved ones. Norman Foster was born in the southern tier hamlet of Obi, NY, on November 19th, 1930. He was the second youngest son of the late Cleo Foster Sr. and Gladys Foster (nee Owens). Mr. Foster graduated from Portville High School in 1949 and went on to study Physical Education at Cortland State Teachers College, where he earned his Bachelors Degree in 1953 and met the love of his life and wife of 70 years, Nancy June Maney.
Norman Foster starred in four sports at Cortland, set records for the Red Dragon football team, was an active alumni, and became inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2001. He married Nancy Maney on December 26th, 1953, and served in the US Marine Corps in the Pacific for two years during the waning years of the Korean Conflict and US occupation of Japan.
Mr. Foster returned stateside in 1955 and began a prodigious and inspired 36-year teaching and coaching career with the Iroquois and Amherst Central Schools. His Iroquois wrestling teams won 10 straight Section VI titles and set a national record for 143 consecutive wins. Coach Foster was a pioneering advocate for the sport of wrestling in Section VI and New York State, served as the Section VI wrestling chairperson, and was inducted into the NYS Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 1982.
Coach Foster began teaching at Amherst in 1966 and coached football, wrestling, and track for the Tigers until his retirement in 1991. He mentored and positively impacted many young people throughout his career, coached sectional and state champion athletes, and was blessed to coach his sons in wrestling and football. Mr. Foster is in the Portville, Iroquois and Amherst High School Sports Hall of Fames and he was inducted in 1999 to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Norman Foster led a life of service to humankind and he was a man of deep faith in God. He was ordained a permanent deacon for the Diocese of Buffalo in 1982 and his ministry included pastoral service at Wyndham Lawn Home for Children, St. Augustine parish in Clarence, Christ the King in Snyder, and St. Jude in downtown Buffalo. He was active with the Christian Cursillo movement, Kairos ministry in local prisons, and with his wife Nancy strongly committed to community service with Meals on Wheels and nursing home visitations.
Family was of the greatest importance to Mr. Foster and he poured out his love, support, guidance, loyalty, and wisdom generously, delightfully, and tirelessly for all. He was predeceased by six siblings, the late Arlene, Eugenia, Marion, Cleo Jr., Stanley, and David.
Norman Foster is survived by his beloved wife of 70 years, Nancy Foster (nee Maney), his six children, Michael (Kathleen), Pamela, Timothy (Katrina), Daniel (Kim Marie), Norman Jr. (Kimberlee), and Patrick (Danielle), and by his 21 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
The family welcomes friends and the community during the hours of 4 to 8 pm on Thursday, November 16th, at the Dengler Roberts Perna Funeral Home at 8630 Transit Road, East Amherst. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11am on Friday at Christ the King Church, 30 Lamarck Dr, in Snyder. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a charity of your choice.
The Rev. Larry Resmer Stiles, 84, of Fountain Hills, died unexpectedly on Aug. 16, 2023.
A New York State native, he was born to Harold E. Stiles and Laverna M. Stiles on July 20, 1939, in Buffalo, N.Y. He graduated from Empire State University (SUNY) and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. He was ordained in the Lutheran Church (LCA) in 1982 and served LCA and ELCA congregations in New York, Illinois, California, Pennsylvania and Arizona. He was a friend to many, a great preacher, a wonderful singer, a supporter of many social causes and an avid golfer.
Larry was deeply loved by his family. He is survived by his wife, the Rev. Adele Stiles Resmer of Fountain Hills; his children, John Stiles (Susan) and Janet Testa of Cobleskill, N.Y.; sister, Sally Hamby and cousin, Bill Wieczorek (Patty) of Buffalo, N.Y., and an extended Resmer clan.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, at 11 a.m., at The Fountains, A United Methodist Church, 15300 N. Fountain Hills Blvd., Fountain Hills, AZ 85268. There will be a brief reception following the service. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to Cruzando Fronteras, a border ministry of the ELCA.
Age 43 of Getzville, NY, fought valiantly with ovarian cancer. She gained her angel wings and peacefully joined her father on Thursday August 24th, 2023.
Beloved wife of 9 years to Jeffrey R. Smith; loving mother to Autumn and Graham; dearest daughter to Karen J. Gentry (Koch) and the late Mark E. Gentry; sweet grand-daughter to Janice K. Koch; caring sister to Kiel Gentry (Jina) Gregory Gentry (Jessica) Emily Krantz (Daniel) Amie Gentry (Louis) Carrie Gentry (Johnathan); daughter-in-law to Richard and Gail Smith; sister- in-law to Richard Smith II (Laurie) Bonnie Lorentz (Brian); Kate loved being an aunt to all her nieces and nephews (total of 19); also survived by aunts, uncles, cousins and many friends. Family will be present to receive relatives and friends Saturday, September 2nd, 2023 from 1pm-5pm at DENGLER, ROBERTS, PERNA FUNERAL HOME at 8630 Transit Road East Amherst NY 14051. A Celebration of Life will be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Kate’s children, Autumn and Graham. Fond memories and condolences may be shared at www.denglerrobertspernafuneral.com.
Joseph Donald Schlaerth, Jr., age 62, of Newburgh, IN, passed away Thursday, June 22, 2023, at his home.
Joseph was born December 7, 1960, in Buffalo, NY, to Joseph Donald Schlaerth, Sr. and Sally Gallagher Schlaerth. He graduated from Amherst Central High School in 1978 and earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Buffalo. Joseph was the News Director for 14 News WFIE in Evansville for eight years. Before coming to Evansville in 2015, Joe worked for nearly 15 years at WIVB in Buffalo, starting as Producer, moving up to Executive Producer and finally to News Director for 10 years.
Joe enjoyed swimming laps in his pool and the company of his dog, Toby. Mostly he loved being with his children and watching them grow. A broad smile would cross his face as he talked about their many accomplishments.
Joe’s newsrooms were perennially successful, almost always #1 in every time slot. He and his teams won multiple Emmy, Edward R. Murrow, National Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi awards just to name a few. The Indiana Broadcasters Association declared 14 News the 2018 Station of the Year. 14 News is currently nominated for an Emmy award for News Excellence because of Joe’s leadership.
Joe always insisted on an unwavering commitment to the highest journalistic and ethical standards. He painstakingly searched out and found the very best talent possible to bring onto the 14 News team so that the station would carry on its legacy of news and weather leadership in Evansville.
Joe was a former President and longtime member of the New York State Associated Press Broadcast Board, an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College (State University of New York), and served on the American Red Cross Leadership Council, Southwest Indiana.
Joseph is survived by his wife of 23 years, Vicki Ehrenberg Schlaerth; twin children, Aurora Paige and Joseph Donald Schlaerth: sisters, Katherine Curriden (Scott) of San Diego, CA, and Sharon Sharth (Mark Bryan) of Arcadia, CA.
Joseph is preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Sally Jo Schlaerth, who passed away in 2014.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 7:00 p.m. CST, Thursday, June 29, 2023, at Methodist Temple, 2109 Lincoln Avenue, Evansville, IN with Pastor Randy Moore officiating. Burial will be private.
Joseph D. Schlaerth Jr., 62, award-winning former news director at WIVB-TV
Joe Schlaerth had just guided the TV news department he directed to the nomination for an award – an Emmy for News Excellence – when he died unexpectedly June 22 in his home in Newburgh, Ind., a suburb of Evansville. He was 62.
Since the early 1990s, Mr. Schlaerth had regularly achieved high honors as a broadcast journalist. During nearly 10 years as news director at WIVB-TV in Buffalo, he and his teams had collected several of them.
The station’s coverage of the crash of Flight 3407 in 2009 brought him two national Edward R. Murrow Awards.
He also received two National Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi awards – one in 2007 for an interview with Lynn DeJac Peters after she served 13 years in prison on a wrongful conviction for the murder of her daughter, and one in 2012 for an investigative series on bullying in schools and online.
Born in Buffalo, one of four children, Joseph Donald Schlaerth Jr. was the son of J. Don Schlaerth, radio-television columnist and TV Topics editor for The Buffalo News, and Sally Gallagher Schlaerth, head librarian at The News.
“I’ve always loved television news,” he told News TV columnist Alan Pergament in 2005. “I remember sitting there with my father, my mom and sisters watching the (casualty) numbers from Vietnam. When I was in school, I rushed home to watch the Watergate hearings. I always had the media bug.”
A 1978 graduate of Amherst High School, he worked his way through Erie Community College and the University at Buffalo. He was a bartender at a racquetball club and a hopper for The News, jumping off trucks to deliver bundles of newspapers to carriers and stores.
He was a year away from graduating from UB when he landed a job in 1985 as an intern at WIVB after another intern didn’t show up for work.
Mr. Schlaerth went on to become assignment editor, then was co-creator and first producer of “Wake Up!,” the station’s morning program, which gained top ratings.
He had similar success as producer and executive producer of news programs at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. He was WIVB Employee of the Year in 2001.
“He’s done it the right way and the hard way,” WIVB anchor Jacquie Walker told Pergament after Mr. Schlaerth was promoted to news director in 2004. “He’s a journalist through and through and knows what’s important in news in this community.”
Under his guidance, WIVB won New York State Emmy Awards for documentaries on Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown in 2006 and development of Buffalo’s waterfront in 2007. The station won three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for investigative coverage in 2013-2014.
His tenure ended in July 2014, a year after the arrival of a new general manager who was unhappy to see the station’s newscasts slipping in the ratings.
He went on to become news director for WFIE, an NBC affiliate in Evansville, ranked 107th among the nation’s TV markets. Under his leadership, it was named Station of the Year in 2018 by the Indiana Broadcasters Association.
“He insisted on an unwavering commitment to the highest journalistic and ethical standards. Joe painstakingly searched out the very best talent possible,” WFIE anchorman Randy Moore said after his death.
He was former president of the New York State Associated Press Broadcast Board, a board member of the Associated Press Broadcasters Association, a former adjunct professor of broadcast journalism at what was then Buffalo State College and served on the American Red Cross Leadership Council, Southwest Indiana.
Survivors include his wife of 23 years, Vicki Ehrenberg Schlaerth, an occupational therapist; twin children, Aurora Paige and Joseph Donald III; and two sisters, Katherine Curriden and Sharon Sharth.
A celebration of his life was held June 29 in Evansville.
Tiger Tracks 