The passing of Hershel Stolebarger

[Penny]

Just learned of Hershel's passing in New Mexico. Hershel was one of the earliest expats to come to Boquete. He and his wife Mikey built a house and lived in Alto Lino for many years before bad health drove them back to the U.S. Hershel was actually the founder of News.boquete which is still known by some old-timers as "Hershel's List".

Mikey writes:

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I just wanted to let you know that Hershel passed peacefully in his sleep Sunday morning after dealing with cancer and heart issues for several years.  Hospice angels came to our apartment daily to help me in so many ways and I remain grateful for the excellent hospice training I received in Boquete.  He was never in pain despite metastatic bone cancer.

 

[Brandy]

Oh, how sad!  Hershel and Mikey were  a lovely couple and such an asset to the community.

[Bud]

I am so saddened to hear this news. The only good in this is that Hershel is not suffering.

Hershel and Mikey were part of the "first wave" of expats to come to this area. Some even said they were the first wave. They, along with a few others, always were trying to make things better for our entire community. Hershel and Mikey and I spent a lot of time together here in Boquete, they at my home and vice versa. (I was not married then, and so Marcelyn never got to meet either of them.) They were very active in the early days of the "Tuesday meetings", which originally started in homes, and then expanded to a size requiring the Panamonte facilities, etc. When "Hershel's List" (what today is known as News.Boquete) got too big for administering using simple email clients, Hershel saw the wisdom of keeping it growing but using newer technology so that scaling was not an issue. Back in those days, the email list was about 100 or so people. Today it is just short of 2,000 subscribers and a mainstay communications channel for all of us. Thanks to Hershel for your vision, and to Penny for carrying forward with Hershel's List, i.e., News.Boquete.

The most memorable time I had with Hershel was a trip that we did to PC. I was driving my then Toyota HiLux, and it was during that trip that I saw the breadth of Hershel's interests in the world around us. He was always humble, never liked to brag, and rarely got upset or angry. The roads back in those days were not very good, and so the trip was a long one. Mikey stayed in Boquete, and so it was just us two guys.

It was shortly after that trip that Hershel and Mikey moved from their home in Alto Lino to a beach community on the Pacific side of Panama, but they never forgot their Boquete friends. Later with more health issues, they moved to New Mexico.

RIP my friend. You will never be forgotten.

[Brundageba]

Somebody please post a picture of Hershel would you?  Thanks.

We send our condolences and Boquete hugs to Mikey.