Fulton County cattle farmer was board of education member

9/17/2005

FAYETTE, Ohio William Keith Humbert, a well-known Fulton County cattle farmer who served on the Gorham-Fayette Local Board of Education, died Thursday in his home in Gorham Township. He was 61.

He died of pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed in March.

Mr. Humbert took after his father and continued the family farm, his wife, Brenda Humbert, said.

It was a family business, and we still live in the same area as his father did, she said. I think he did it because he loved doing it. He really enjoyed the cattle more than anything.

The farm has more than 500 cattle, she added.

Mr. Humbert was born in Wauseon and graduated from Fayette High School in 1961 and Ohio State University in 1965.

After marrying the former Brenda Borton on Sept. 5, 1964, the two settled down near the Fulton County village of Fayette.

Throughout his career, Mr. Humbert participated in farming associations, including the Fulton County Cattle Feeders and the Ohio Cattlemen s Association.

Family members said Mr. Humbert served on the school board in the 1980s.

He did that probably because he was asked to and probably because he thought it was his time to do that duty, Mrs. Humbert said.

Surviving are his wife, Brenda Humbert; sons, William Keith Kip Humbert, Jr. and Kevin Humbert; daughter, Melissa Humbert; parents, Keith and Juanita Humbert; sisters, Janette Yano and Alice Jean Toth, and six grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Eagle Funeral Home, Fayette, where the body will be after noon today.

The family suggests tributes to the Hospice of Williams and Fulton Counties or the Fayette High School Scholarship Fund.