John Stephen Herring

John Stephen Herring, known to most people as Steve, departed this earth on April 6, 2022 way too soon. Steve had two mottos in life: “It is what it is” and “If you can’t change it, laugh at it”. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama 49 years ago to Peter C. Herring and the late Judith Weaver Herring. He was a beloved little brother to Margaret Herring Fenton (Bill), who admits she teased him way too often and too frequently. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where he sometimes flourished in the St. Martin school system. He had nothing to do with that incident in 1992 where someone shredded a year of newspapers and threw it all over Yellowjacket Drive.

After graduation from St. Martin, Steve attended The University of South Alabama. He majored in Elementary Education and managed to avoid getting arrested. He went on to get a Masters in Social Work from Tulane University like literally everyone else in his family. While in graduate school, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and remained far too sweet for the rest of his life. He suffered from numerous health problems in the ensuing years, eventually losing his leg as the result of the diabetes. Like he said, it is what it is. His self-deprecating sense of humor was always evident, most prominently in his love for funny amputee t-shirts. His favorites proclaimed “IHOP” and “You can count on me, but only up to fifteen.”

Steve suffered his first heart attack a couple of years ago, luckily while standing in the lobby of the UAB hospital. He was revived and became known in that hospital as “Fall Out Boy”. He was also known as “Goofy” to his friends. Steve was very grateful to all of his doctors and knows they did their best despite his love of sugar and good red meat. A memorial service will be held April 22, 2022 at Johns-Ridout’s Elmwood Chapel, 800 Dennison Ave Birmingham, Alabama 35211 with Visitation starting at 1:00PM and a Memorial Service at 2:00PM. Everyone is encouraged to wear their favorite Star Wars regalia. He’d be appalled at all the fuss everyone is making over his death, and would remind everyone to love one another, always. In lieu of flowers, Steve would have loved support for Open Insulin (www.openinsulin.org) or The American Heart Association (heart.org)

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.johnsridoutselmwoodchapel.com for the Herring family.