In Memoriam
Eric Hirt

Husband, father, and dear friend.
Thank you for all you did for us.
We will miss you.

Service: Saturday, October 4, 2008, at 10:00a.m. at the Herndon United Methodist Church (701 Bennett Street, Herndon), reception to follow immediately after.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the following: American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Pride of Herndon Band, and/or the Herndon United Methodist Church.

Band Aid of the Pride of Herndon Band will coordinate meals for Eric’s family.  Please contact Elizabeth Charles at BandAid@HerndonBand.org if you would like to provide a meal for the Hirt family over the next few days.

Eric Hirt was well known in the community as President of the Herndon High School Band Parents Association from 2003 to 2006, but he did much more.  He volunteered thousands of hours over the 10 years he was associated with the high school and middle school bands.  He chaired the Showcase of Bands Program at Herndon High School for many years, ran the Solo and Ensemble Festival at Herndon Middle School in 2006, and was first Webmaster for the award-winning Herndon High School Band website.  Hundreds of The Pride of Herndon band students knew him as the uniform truck driver, pit crew member and the Grillmaster.  He was a member of the Herndon Middle School Band Parents Association Board where he took the minutes and gave input as the high school liaison.  He recorded, duplicated and distributed CDs of band, orchestra and chorus concerts as a fund raiser for the band.  Eric received the band's highest honor for a parent, the Nancy Katz Award, for his many hours of volunteer work for the Pride of Herndon in 2007.  The Town of Herndon proclaimed June 17, 2005 to be "Eric Hirt Day."  Eric will always be the Pride of Herndon!

He is survived by Tammy his beloved wife of 27 years.  He was the devoted father of Justin (wife Ashley Lavender) of Jacksonville, FL.  Justin graduated from Herndon High in 2002 and played saxophone.  He marched in the Marching Virginians at Virginia Tech.  Eric is the very proud father of Erica and Melinda, class of 2007.  Erica played bassoon in the Herndon High School Wind Ensemble and marched tuba in the Pride of Herndon Band.  She is a music major at JMU.  She marches saxophone with the Marching Royal Dukes and plays the bassoon in the Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra.  Melinda played clarinet in the Herndon High School Wind Ensemble.  She is currently a biology major at Virginia Tech.

Donations of food for the reception following the service may be made by contacting Beth Czerwinski at CzerFamily@aol.com.  The following are needed: sandwich platters, vegetable platters, fruit platters, side dishes (pasta salad, deviled eggs, green salad, etc.) and main dish sides (chicken pasta salad, etc.)  Please drop off food in the kitchen at the church between 9:00a.m. and 10:00a.m. on Saturday.  Please mark your dishes and serving pieces with your name.  Herndon United Methodist Church is a "nut free zone."  Please keep that in mind while preparing dishes.

Dear Pride of Herndon Family and Friends,

As you all know, we recently lost a very dear friend of the Pride of Herndon Bands, Eric Hirt.  For those of you that had the pleasure of working with Eric, you know that he was a tireless parent volunteer with a heart of gold.  Anything that needed doing, especially if it was behind the scenes, he was on it and it was done well.  He was also a wonderful leader for our family, taking the helm of the Presidency and Showcase for many years.  We will miss him greatly, and send his family are deepest, heartfelt sympathy.

To honor Eric's memory, the HHSBPA Board of Directors has established a scholarship in his name.  It will be awarded to a graduating senior who best exemplifies the qualities of dedication, integrity and selflessness that Eric exhibited during the 10 years that he was an active member of the BPA.  If you would like to contribute to the Eric Hirt Scholarship Fund, please send your donation to the following address:

Herndon High School
Band Parents Association
P.O. Box 1293
Herndon, VA 20172-1293

Checks should be made payable to HHSBPA, and please write "Eric Hirt Scholarship" in the memo line.  Thank you for your consideration of supporting this scholarship.