Ex-Fulton Co. commissioner, Swancreek Twp. trustee raised hogs
10/21/2007DELTA - Robert H. Meintzer, a lifelong farmer who had been a Fulton County commissioner, Swancreek Township trustee, and county Republican Central Committee member, died Thursday in the Swanton Health Care and Retirement Center.
He was 86 and died of congestive heart failure.
Mr. Meintzer began farming with a team of horses on the Swanton-area farm where he grew up, the son of Henry and Edith Meintzer, his daughter Lorraine Brown said.
A 1938 graduate of Swanton High School, Mr. Meintzer served in the Army, assigned to the Pacific Theater in World War II with the 170th Engineer Combat Battalion in Inchon, Korea.
In 1943, he married Doris Leona Johnston. She died in 2004.
At his farm near Delta, Mr. Meintzer raised purebred Landrace swine.
He enjoyed showing hogs at the Ohio and Indiana state fairs as well as at the National Landrace Convention each summer and won grand champion and reserve champion honors over the years, his daughter said.
Landrace hogs are white hogs with long bodies and long, floppy ears. Mr. Meintzer raised 500 at a time, his daughter said.
Mr. Meintzer, who retired from farming about 20 years ago, was a Swancreek Township trustee for 17 years, and later served one term as a Fulton County commissioner from 1978 to 1982.
He was first vice president of the Ohio Township Association's board of directors, but resigned the post when he became a county commissioner.
Mr. Meintzer was a member of the Fulton County Republican Central Committee for more than 20 years, his daughter said.
In between farming and holding public office, Mr. Meintzer found time for honeybees as a hobby.
He would take his hives to a Swanton-area orchard operated by Dale Johnston, his brother-in-law, Mr. Meintzer's son, Lyle, recalled.
Mr. Meintzer enjoyed processing honey, Lyle said, remembering searching for fields of clover.
His father would move the hives into the fields and would later make clover honey, which he sold and gave to friends.
Mr. Meintzer served on the Fulton County Agricultural Society board, which puts on one of the largest county fairs in the region.
He was a past president of the Fulton County Senior Center board.
A member of Brailey Union Church, he was a life member of the Delta American Legion Post No. 373 and belonged to the Fulton County Farm Bureau.
He is survived by his daughter, Lorraine Brown; son, Lyle Meintzer, and five grandchildren.
The funeral is at 2 p.m. today in Brailey Union Church near Swanton.
Visitation will be in the church one hour before the service. Weigel Funeral Home, Swanton, is handling arrangements.
The family suggests tributes to the church.