Reverend Von Eric Berlin passed away on May 20, 2022. He was born to Carl and Ethel (Keep) Berlin on October 31, 1947. He married the love of his life Sandra Kay Hampton on September 9, 1967.
Von graduated from the new Bowling Green High School in the first graduating class of 1965. He finished his Civil Engineering degree at the University of Toledo in 1974 becoming a licensed engineer and surveyor. He was employed by Poggemeyer Engineering. In 1978, he accepted the position of City Engineer of Napoleon, Ohio.
In all of this, he still heard the call to ministry, entering the Fort Wayne Seminary as a second career student at age 39, gaining his Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained as a Lutheran minister in January 1990. He began his service at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Sydney, Ohio and continued his training as a chaplain at Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne, Indiana. He then served as a chaplain at Lima Correctional Institution until it closed in 2003. He transferred to Lorain Correctional Institution for two years, and then received a call to return to the congregational ministry at St. John Lutheran Church, Elyria from which he retired in 2015, as much as ministers ever retire.
After training as an intentional interim pastor, Rev. Berlin served eight more churches as they transitioned to new pastors. Among those were St. Paul Lutheran Church, Amherst, and Zion Lutheran, Ridgeville Corners.
He considered the calling on his life to be serve God by serving others. He never met someone who he would not strike up a conversation with, wanting to share with everyone the blessings of his life in the hopes of extending those blessings to them. His ordination verse was I Corinthians 15:10.
A loving husband and a supportive and caring father, he leaves to mourn his loss his devoted wife of 54 years, Sandra (Hampton) Berlin; three children, Amy (Carl) Drees, rural Defiance, Ohio; Laura Berlin, Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Eric (Julia Henderson) Berlin, Lorain, Ohio; six grandchildren: Isaac, Thaddeus, and Zora Drees, Isabelle Yuhasz-Berlin, Eliza Soli Martinez, Tyler and Blake Henderson, and Rhys Berlin. Also surviving are his siblings Ted (Penny) Berlin, Urbana, Ohio, and Christine (Pekin) Ogan, Bloomington, Indiana, along with a nephew and four nieces. His mother-in-law, Elsie Mae Hampton, also survives. He was preceeded in death by his parents; his brother, Martin Berlin; and his brother-in-law, Larry Hampton.
Memorial contributions in his honor may be gifted to the Kiwanis Scholarship Fund or Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church.
Viewing will be held on Monday, May 23, 2022 from 4:00 – 7:00 PM at Deck-Hanneman Funeral Home, 1460 W. Wooster Street, Bowling Green, Ohio, and on Tuesday, May 24, 2022 from 10:00 AM until the time of his funeral service at 11:00 AM at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church 13101 Five Point Road, Perrysburg, Ohio 43551. Burial will immediately follow at Union Hill Cemetery in Bowling Green.
Hanneman Funeral Homes is honored to serve Von’s family and encourage those to share a fond memory and or condolence by visiting www.hannemanfuneralhomes.com.
