Henry P. Offermann

Henry P. Offermann of Bath, NY died in his home in Shreveport, LA on December 23, 2024 after complications from another broken hip and congestive heart failure. He leaves a sister, Anita D’Ambrosio of Ft. Pierce, Florida, and his wife, Stafford Lyons, of Shreveport, LA. There will be a family gathering in the near future, but no public service. If you would like to do something in remembrance of Henry, please plant a tree, or send a donation in his memory to John C. Campbell Folk School (Folkschool.org.)

Henry was born on May 20, 1936 in Stanfordville, NY in the garage where his family lived while his father finished building their home. Henry grew up in this very rural community, exploring the woods and fields, stopping to help the farmers out when he saw them loading their barns with hay or poking his head into barns to see if any new chicks had been born. He worked on a chicken farm as a teenager and was so dedicated to his work (as he was his whole life) that the owner asked him to take over that enterprise, but Henry declined, understanding that he would be working in a profession that he did not relish. He didn’t like to eat chicken for the rest of his life! 

He was persuaded to go to college and got his associate’s degree in engineering. He already had carpentry skills from working with his father, so after trying different jobs in New York and Florida where he turned down another lucrative managing position in the citrus industry, he went back to New York where the trees actually turned scarlet and golden in the fall and the hills and valleys revealed vistas of the state he most loved. 

He married (and eventually divorced) Joy Ells and began his own construction company, Stanford Enterprises, Inc. Without advertising, he grew it into such a well-respected company that customers would wait two years for him to do their work. Eventually, he married Stafford Lyons, a southerner who also loved New York state. During that time, he was still learning. He loved trades people and sought them out whenever he needed advice. He was already a Master Carpenter and knew how to lay bricks, do tile work, plumbing and electrical work, build stone walls and dams, and husband the land. And he wanted to learn blacksmithing but couldn’t find anyone to teach him. It wasn’t until he retired and moved with Stafford out to Bath, NY that he found blacksmiths willing to help him learn. 

In Bath, he built a huge barn and small house by himself with Stafford as helper. When it was all mostly finished, he bought and rebuilt a steam run shingle mill, demonstrated its use in fairs around the area, and travelled to Ohio to learn how to maintain and run large, free-standing steam engines and tractors. 

But finally, he went back to his old dream of being a blacksmith. He joined the New York State Designers Blacksmiths and demonstrated at many events in the area. One of his best memories was of the time he studied under Clay Spencer at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. He worked with professional smiths there and Spencer encouraged him to push himself farther than he ever imagined he could go. He became the Forge Master at the Southern Tier Blacksmith Guild. 

Pounding iron in his own shop, “my spa”, gave him joy during his declining years, and it is to the smiths he met during the thirty years he worked iron that he owes the joy he felt nearing the end of his life, the smiths who shared their knowledge and continued to encourage him whenever he had questions or doubts about his work. 

He was a friend to many, their teacher, mentor and role model for his work ethic and how to live an honest life. A good man who will be sorely missed.