Although he was a co-owner and CEO of H.W. Herrell Distributing in Imperial, Donald “Donnie” Herrell acted like just one of the guys around the office.
“It isn’t exactly like the normal professional place of business,” said his daughter, Terri Streb of Imperial, who had worked alongside her dad at the beer distributorship for almost 30 of her 46 years. “We all cut up, and my dad always went along with it. He would always joke around with all the employees.”
Mr. Herrell died suddenly on Aug 12 at his home at the age of 63.
His death came as a shock to his family.
“He was dealing with the allergies that everybody has,” Terri said. “He had been getting checkups as he should, and he wasn’t sick that we know of.”
Mr. Herrell was the son and grandson of the men who built the business, and followed in their footsteps.
But his daughter said he didn’t come across as entitled.
“Dad was a very proud man, and he always wanted people to understand that he wasn’t just handed this company,” she said. “He said he started working when he was 5, and I think he was only half kidding. I know he was here from a real young age, and he did all kinds of jobs. He worked in the warehouse, swept the floors, drove the trucks. He worked his way up.”
Mr. Herrell was in college at Drury University in Springfield when his grandfather, company founder Harvey W. Herrell, died in 1968.
“My dad quit school and came back up here to help his parents, and especially his grandmother,” Terri said. “But he didn’t jump right in, even then; he still had to go through a lot of classes and certifications through Anheuser-Busch.”
When his father and grandmother died in the late 1980s, Mr. Herrell became president of the company.
Terri said her father was definitely a hands-on kind of president.
“He wasn’t like the president of some companies, who come in and check on a few things and leave again,” she said. “He was there every day, from 7:30 in the morning until 4 o’clock or sometimes even later if need be.
“He was very involved, and he knew what was going on. He knew everybody’s name – even the part-time guys – and he would see them and say, ‘Hey, Joe!’ and shake their hands. They would be surprised at first, because a lot of presidents don’t act like that.”
Mr. Herrell was still in his 20s when he met Donna Cooper and her four young children.
“They met in 1977, and got married later that year or the next,” Terri said. “He adopted us when we were 5, 10, 12 and 14.
“He thought the world of my mother. She cooked for him, she laid out his clothes. They had one of those loves that is hard to find. Some people never find it.”
Mr. Herrell never made a big deal of the way his children came to be his, concentrating instead on what they could do as a family.
“We were his kids from Day One. We were his, and that was the end of it,” Terri said. “That man was the next best thing to God to me. He was just Dad.”
Terri said her father was known for his generosity.
“He was such a giving man – he had a heart of gold. He gave to everything,” she said. “If kids wanted to go to St. Pius and their parents didn’t have the money, my dad would write a check to the Lancer Endowment. He was very much about the community. If it was possible, he would buy local and hire local people. Whether it was getting trucks worked on, buying supplies, getting tires – he did everything in Jefferson County. His motto, that came from his dad, was, ‘We take care of the people in our county that take care of us.’”
And Mr. Herrell was generous with his time and support as well.
“If somebody came in the office, a retiree, he’d stop what he was doing and talk to them,” Terri said. “He really cared about people, and he just had to make sure everyone was taken care of.”
That kind of caring engendered loyalty and longevity among his employees, Terri said.
“The thing about our place is that when people got a job here, they stayed here,” she said. “There are people who have been with us 26, 27 years. The oldest of our drivers has been here probably 35 years.
“It was because of the working conditions, and my dad made it that way.”
Mr. Herrell was an avid outdoorsman, and he and his wife spent many happy hours hunting and fishing with their children and grandchildren.
“My mom actually was more of a hunter than him,” Terri said. “He was active with the Conservation Federation (of Missouri). He was very much into it, donating stuff as well as money.”
Terri said she hopes her father will be remembered for his caring, compassion and work ethic.
“Everyone had a lot of respect for my father,” she said. “I don’t think my dad had an enemy. I honestly don’t. His family, his company, his community – those were the things that were important to him.
“He worried about himself last. He would take care of my mom, his family, the business, then he was last. He was very low-key; he didn’t want people to say, ‘Gee you’re awesome!’ but he deserves recognition.”
“Life Story,” posted each Saturday on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.