Corporate counsel was deeply devoted to Bryan civic life

4/16/2005

BRYAN - Herbert K. Ames, 93, who served as the general counsel for the ARO Corp. here for 30 years, and a former assistant state attorney general, died Thursday in the Dilworth Center of the Community Hospitals of Williams County, Montpelier, Ohio.

He died of complications from congestive heart failure, family members said.

Born in Bryan, Mr. Ames spent most of his life here and graduated from Bryan High School in 1920. He received his bachelor's degree from Miami (Ohio) University in 1924, and a law degree from the Ohio State University law school.

"He was a gentleman who deeply cared about his family and the community he lived in," Holly Hanna, his daughter, said.

Mr. Ames started his legal career in a small private practice here before working in the state attorney general's office in the 1930s. He married Lucile Nelson on May 19, 1934.

When World War II broke out, Mr. Ames enlisted in the Navy and served as a lieutenant on a destroyer in the South Pacific, his daughter said.

Following the end of the war, he returned to Bryan and was appointed general counsel of the ARO Corp., where he worked until his retirement in 1977.

A longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church here, where he taught Sunday school for many years, Mr. Ames also was a member of the Bryan Rotary Club, for which he served as president and district governor. He was also on the national board.

"He felt very strongly about giving back to his community," his daughter said. She noted that he was the first president of the Bryan Chamber of Commerce and the Williams County Airport Board.

He also was a member of the Williams County Bar Association, Orchard Hills Country Club, the Free and Accepted Masons of Bryan, and twice served as the grand marshal of the Bryan Jubilee Parade.

Surviving are his wife of 71 years, Lucile Ames; daughters, Patricia Brown and Holly Hanna; four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

There will be no visitation. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday in First Presbyterian Church, Bryan. The Oberlin-Ford Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

The family suggests tributes to the First Presbyterian Church or to the Dilworth Center at the hospital.