John Werner

1923 - 2015

(News article) GENOA - John F. "Jack" Werner, a Toledo Edison manager whose voice carried through his hometown on fall Fridays as announcer at Genoa High School football games, died Saturday in Genoa Retirement Village. He was 91.

He'd been in declining health recently, his son, William, said.

Mr. Werner retired in 1982 from Edison. He finished a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Ohio State University after stateside service in the Navy during World War II. He was a distribution engineer and later assistant to the president and eastern district operations superintendent. He became purchasing director and ordered parts as the Davis-Besse nuclear plant was built. He was a leader in U.S. and local purchasing-management groups.

Mr. Werner was called the "Voice of the Comets" for his years of football announcing, first as a last-minute substitute in 1948, when his perch was a crow's nest reached by climbing a pole at the 50-yard line. He was asked again the next game and then for every home game through the 1987 season.

He had a "booming voice, and everybody loved it," said Jim Firestone, a retired Genoa High principal who was head football coach for 18 years. "We thought he was No. 1."

Mr. Werner gave the score often, and townspeople in their yards and on their porches could keep track. He met with Genoa and opposing coaches to go over team names and had a spotter from each team beside him.

He was a charter inductee in 1998 into Genoa's athletic hall of fame. He was a former member of the school board and and the village board of public affairs and planning commission. "He was the historian of Genoa," Mr. Firestone said. "If you wanted to know something, he was the guy."

Born Aug. 13, 1923, to Elsie and John C. Werner, he was a 1941 graduate of Genoa High. He was an Eagle Scout and a former scoutmaster. He was a past master of Genoa Lodge, F&AM, and had a master of business degree from the University of Michigan.

He married Dolores Davis Sept. 29, 1945. She died Jan. 15, 2005.

Surviving are his son, William; five grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

Visitation is 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. today in the Robinson-Walker Funeral Home, Genoa, with Masonic services at 7 p.m. The funeral is at 11 a.m. Friday in St. John's United Church of Christ, Genoa, where he was a member.

The family suggests tributes to the church or Genoa Community Food Pantry.

This story was written by Blade Staff Writer Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.