Howard Herning, MD 1922-2016

A beloved pioneer of NFP in California, Howard Herning, MD, passed away in the Fall, 2016, at the age of 93.

Until his last few months of failing health, Dr. Herning was living with his beloved wife of 66 years, Dorothy, in the same San Francisco home his parents Harry and Hazel (McLinden) Herning brought him to upon his birth, December 22, 1922. He attended grade school in San Francisco, then began his Jesuit education at St. Ignatius High School, University of San Francisco and Creighton Medical School in Omaha, NE. He returned to his native San Francisco to begin his medical internship at San Francisco General Hospital. It was during his subsequent residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco that he met his future wife, Dorothy Barrett, who had just graduated from Lone Mountain College, and they were married shortly thereafter, on June 17, 1950.

From 1951-1953, Dr. Herning served in the Army Medical Corps as an Ob-Gyn at Camp Polk, Leesville, LA and Fort McArthur Army Hospital in San Pedro, CA and completed his formal medical training at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, LA.

He then returned to St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco to begin private practice, where he remained his entire medical career. He witnessed many developments during his many decades of medical practice, including exciting scientific advances in the understanding of fertility, and the development of a brand new method of observing and charting fertility by Australian colleagues (who became dear friends), Drs. John and Lyn Billings. Dr. Herning recruited teaching couples, including Therese and Jose Maes and Kathi and John Hamlon, and traveled with them throughout the Bay Area to introduce couples to this effective new technique of fertility management called the Billings Method. He maintained his interest in new developments, one of the first to learn the new Creighton Model of NFP, developed by his colleague Dr. Thomas Hilgers. He was honored in 1993 for his pioneer role in introducing modern methods of NFP to California, as the first recipient of the Calegari Award, an award instituted to honor another trailblazer in the field (and dear friend of the Herning family), Fr. Marc Calegari. Fittingly, Dr. Herning was presented this award in person by Drs. John and Lyn Billings. As the first of 13 Californians to date to be son honored, Dr. Herning expressed his congratulations to the most recent (2015) honoree, Archbishop Cordileone: “My heart is filled with joy to congratulate this year’s most deserving recipient, my own bishop, Archbishop Cordileone. I join you all in honoring the good Archbishop for his faithful and courageous leadership. With this award, we thank you dear Archbishop for caring enough, for loving enough, to proclaim the truth with love and true compassion. I am humbled to share with such a man the honor of Calegari Award Recipient”. Dr. Herning remained active in leadership and advisory roles in NFP throughout his professional life and into his retirement, serving for the past 23 years on the Advisory Board of the California Association of Natural Family Planning.

Dr. Herning retired to Carmel, CA in 1995, where  Bishop Shubsda, then Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey, recruited him to establish the Respect Life Commission.Geraldine Ridgway, the first Director of that Commission, remembers him this way: “I worked with doctors my entire life. Dr. Herning was a cut above them all. He was an OB/Gyn devoted to “Life”! He was cherished by all. God Bless his wife Dorothy, his daughters and his beautiful grandchildren who he loved very much.”

In addition to his wife, Dorothy Barrett Herning, he is survived by his three daughters Marianne (Tim) Kay, Jeanne (Mike) McWalters and Elizabeth (Gregory) Vaughan, as well as eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Fr. Patrick Dooling, who served with Dr. Herning during his leadership of the Respect Life Commission, celebrated a private funeral service at San Carlos Cathedral and Cemetery, in Monterey, CA.

Dr. Herning’s spirit continues, through the devoted love of his wife and family, the babies he delivered, now with babies and grandbabies of their own, the babies born because of his advocacy for the most vulnerable, fellow Catholics who worshipped by his side, neighbors in his San Francisco and Carmel communities, and those blessed to know him through his professional work in medicine, natural family planning, and the promotion of the sanctity of life—and even those who did not, but will reap the benefits of the fruits of the faithful labors of this just, kind, caring, and joyful servant leader.