Frederick Charles Herber

Fred Charles Herber, Jr., 92, of Round Rock, Texas, left this earthly life for heaven on Tuesday, December 10, 2025.

Fred was the devoted husband of Myrna (Wuthrich), his partner in marriage in every sense of the word for almost 60 years. Together they built a life grounded in love, loyalty, and shared purpose. He was a loving father to Susan (Mayes) and her husband Scott, and Mark and his wife Pam. As "Papa," he took immense pride as grandfather to Katy, Holly, Kristen, Lauren, and Jayden - each one a source of joy.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Elizabeth Herber, and all his siblings and their spouses: Betty Anne (Roiz) and Richard, Martin and Inez, John and Lynne, and June (Muth) and John.

Fred was born in Austin, Texas, on June 30, 1933. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1951. He attended San Antonio College and worked local jobs, such as an automobile mechanic and working on Convair B-36 Peacemakers, before serving in the U.S. Army's 11th Airborne Division as a paratrooper from 1955 to 1957, with service that included being stationed in Germany. After military service, he attended the University of Texas, earning his Architectural Engineering degree in 1963.

After graduation, Fred began his career at the Texas Highway Department in Austin. He briefly left the department and spent a year-and-a-half in Houston working for structural engineering firms. He then returned to the Austin area and worked the remainder of his career for the State of Texas, returning to the Highway Department, and later transferring to the Board of Registration of Professional Engineers, retiring in 1993. Being a serious engineer, even throughout most of his retirement he maintained his engineering registration for 50 years.

Fred was a designer, builder, do-it-yourselfer, and fixer at heart, realizing his dream of building his own home on the 60 acres of land in Nameless he purchased in 1964. He enjoyed life on that property off of Nameless Road for 52 of his 92 years. He loved the natural habitat and wildlife including deer, turkeys, armadillos, foxes, ring-tailed cats, owls, pheasants, and other birds. He also raised livestock including cows, pigs, chickens, peacocks, geese, quail, dogs, cats, and even a friendly raccoon.

Fred was a faithful Christian throughout his lifetime. He served over 50 years at Peace Lutheran before attending Christ Lutheran after age and health issues required a move from Nameless to Round Rock. In addition to his church, he also served his community as a volunteer EMT and Commissioner for ESD 1 for about 8 years. Fred was also an "honorary" (ornery) member of Friends of Nameless School and was active in the restoration of the historic one room school.

Fred will always be remembered fondly for his his enduring love of wife, family, country, and German heritage, his strong character yet warm personality, his generosity and willingness to help others, his sly humor, his fondness for a wide variety of music (especially Willie Nelson) and automobile racing, his general love of life, and of course his ability to tell a great story.

To honor and celebrate Fred's life, there will be a memorial service at Christ Lutheran Church in Austin at 10:30am on December 27th. This is a busy season and traffic is problematic so we understand if you do not come. It will be livestreamed via the church's Facebook page Christ Austin 78704. If you choose to come, we encourage you to wear bright colors because Fred's last years were so dark with loss of vision, but now we believe his vision has been restored and he would love the bright colors.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Peace Lutheran Church (P.O. Box 171047, Austin, TX 78717 or peaceaustin.org), Christ Lutheran Church (300 E Monroe St, Austin, TX 78704 or christaustin.org), or the charity of your choice.