He was the fourth Herman William in that Knoche linage and was known as Junior most of his childhood. Herman had five sisters: Carol, Nathalee, Delores, Aldean, and Donna.
He started school in a one-room country schoolhouse, Prairie Flower, but began schooling in Stafford at the fifth grade and graduated from high school in 1952. After three semesters at Kansas State University, Herman volunteered for the draft and served in the Army (Ordinance Corp) at Fort Knox Kentucky from 1954-56. On February 5, 1955 he married Darlene Bowman of Stafford. After the service he returned to Kansas State and earned a B.S. in Feed Technology (1959), then a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1963).
In 1962, Herman joined the faculty in the Department of Biochemistry & Nutrition at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, rose through the professorial ranks, and served as department head for 15 years. Much of his research involved determining the chemical structures of toxins and hormones, particularly ones involved in plants. He was instrumental in establishing a Biochemistry major in the Colleges of Agriculture and Arts & Sciences. Herman was the author of two textbooks (Radioisotopic Methods for Biological and Medical Research; Essentials of Organic Chemistry). In (1971), he took a one-year sabbatical at Harvard University working under Nobel Prize winner Konrad Bloch.
He was active in 4-H throughout much of his life, ran track in high school, and worked and lived at the Dairy Barn at Kansas State. He was a farmer at heart and loved the family’s “Back Acres” farm in rural Ceresco, gardening and keeping bees with his grandson. His other hobbies included woodworking and tinkering on various projects. He was a member of the Sesostris Shrine, the Mason’s Comet Lodge #229, the Ceresco Methodist Church, and the UNL Emeriti and Retiree Association.
His wife of 70 years, Darlene, survives him as does daughter Kimberly, son Christopher (Connie), grandson Johnny (Ashlee), granddaughter Victoria “Tori” (Mike Diana), sister Aldean Banker, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorials to Sesostris Shrine, the University of Nebraska Foundation, Masonic-Eastern Star Home for Children in Fremont, and Ceresco United Methodist Church.
Services to be held at Roper & Sons Chapel 4300 “O” St Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 11AM.