Reese Leppo Starner, register of wills for Carroll County for 28 years, died Saturday at Carroll County General Hospital after a heart attack. The Westminster resident was 78.
Mr. Starner, a Republican, was elected in November to his eighth term as register of wills, an officer whose duties include serving as clerk to the Orphans' Court.
For 26 years before becoming register of wills, he had been a salesman and sales manager for the Maryland Candy Co., which became the Myers Variety Co.
A native of Tyrone in Carroll County, he was a graduate of Westminster High School. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces as a radio operator and machine gunner on B-17 bombers, and completed 50 combat missions in the Mediterranean. His decorations included the Air Medal with 10 oak-leaf clusters.
He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.
He was a first baseman on sandlot baseball teams as a young man and later managed the Senators, a Babe Ruth League team sponsored by the Westminster Rotary Club. He also was a founder and former treasurer of the Carroll County Oldtimers Baseball Association.
He was a longtime member of the Baust Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Westminster and served as its delegate to the Carroll Lutheran Village.
Private services were to be held today.
He is survived by his wife, the former Roberta Sprinkle; a daughter, Ann Starner Mann; a son, Robert Lee Starner; a sister, Juanita Senseney; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. All are of Westminster.
Memorial donations may be made to the Baust Emmanuel Lutheran Church, c/o Larry Petry -- Treasurer, 801 David Ave., Westminster 21157.