Jonathan Booher Obituary (1979 – 2021) – Greensburg, PA

Jonathan David Booher, 41, of Greensburg, passed away Saturday, May 22, 2021. I cannot put into words, or encapsulate, the life of our son Jonathan Booher. His life is not a list of achievements and accomplishments. His life is the sum of the cherished memories in all our hearts and the meaningful differences he made in the lives of his family and many friends. Jonathan’s greatest passions have always been his relationships with his family and his friends. An intensely private person, Jonathan’s finest hours were spent enjoying all the good in life with those he loved best, and counseling and assisting friends and clients in need. He quietly lived his life as a gentleman and man of honor. He never sought notoriety or recognition. This was not in his blood, far better to be the best friend, mentor, counselor he could possibly be to all he knew. He was a kind and gentle soul who gave of himself to those who needed him whenever and wherever he was needed. Those who knew him best know these are the greatest truths of Jonathan’s life, and the greatest tributes that can be paid to him. These are my memories of him also. Our lives were lived in the fullness of each other. Love was always spoken, never left unsaid. Memories are clear and bright. We all may think we have a hole in our hearts where Jonathan once resided. There is no hole. He is there in all our thoughts and memories. He is still with us and always will be. Our son is always alive to us. Nothing has been lost except time. God keeps our tears in a bottle. He will remember us always and he knows our struggles, our lives, our loves and our losses. Allow God to put some of your tears in the bottle he keeps for Jonathan. Always give your love and show compassion as Jonathan always did. That is a fine service to his memory. For those of you who may not know Jonathan as well, we offer a few pieces of his life. These do not capture him. They are but flashes of a life well-lived and gone too soon. But they may be helpful to some who wish they had known him better. Born July 18, 1979, in Arlington, Va., Jonathan was adopted into the home of Vance and Vicki Booher Sept. 5, 1979. The family returned to Pennsylvania in 1982 to take over Mountain View Inn. Jonathan attended The Valley School of Ligonier through ninth grade and then graduated from Latrobe High School in 1998. Jonathan was a standout soccer and lacrosse player at Valley and was a three-year soccer starter and letterman at forward at Latrobe. He competed as a forward with the Foothills Blast Cup Soccer team for three years. His dreams of Division 1 soccer were derailed by a serious soccer injury to his ankle in 1998 resulting in multiple fractures and many screws and pins in his ankle. Jonathan graduated from the College of Charleston in South Carolina with a degree in French and a minor in accounting and business management. The high point of his time at college was a semester abroad studying French in Provence and living with a French family. At the same time Jonathan lost nearly a year of study as he fought and beat Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, finally achieving full remission in December 2001. Following college, Jonathan joined the family business at Mountain View Inn, initially as a part-time bartender but rising to become beverage manager for the entire operation, and achieved recognition for his wine expertise from the Culinary Institute of America. He was instrumental in building the Inn’s Wine Spectator Award Winning Wine List. Following the closing of the Inn in 2009, Jonathan joined his father, Vance, and brother, Erik, as a full-time professional realtor. In 2015, he assisted with the opening of RE/MAX Leading Edge, the family’s newest business venture and has been an active owner/agent ever since, winning numerous sales awards from both RE/MAX and the Realtor’s Association of Westmoreland County. Jonathan was also an avid fisherman, spending many fine days and weeks at our fishing club on Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. A “summer camp for adults”, the Yankanuck Club holds many of our finest times together as a family. Jonathan had also come to love fly fishing after a trip to Montana years ago with his father, and had built on this passion with adventures in Steelhead fishing in Erie and New York with his dear friend, Mike Lazzaro. Jonathan is survived by his father, Vance Booher, his mother, Vicki Booher; his brothers, Erik and Douglas Booher, his sister, Zorica Tomic Booher; his stepmother, Alicia Santiago Virguez; and the love of his life, Maria Santella. His aunt, Rebecca Booher, and his aunt, Linda, and uncle, Jim Stoner, and their daughters, cousins, Emily and Sally, as well as cousins, Helen and Tony Bush and Betsy Mooney, and cousins, Ned, Nathan, Shane and Patrick Bair and Marcus Morelli, Sue and Mark Morelli, all mourn his passing as well. His presence among us remains, full of his beautiful smile and bright shining eyes. Memories will live forever. There will be no holes in our hearts because they are full with the joy of having known this wonderful man. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, May 28, 2021, in First Presbyterian Church, 300 S. Main St., Greensburg, with the Rev. Dr. Martin Ankrum officiating. The service will be live streamed by visiting https://www.firstpresbyteriangreensburg.com/memorial-service.html. KEPPLE-GRAFT FUNERAL HOME is entrusted with the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, Jonathan’s family will be setting up an organization in his honor. Information for this charity will be shared when it is available. For online condolences and information, please visit www.kepplegraft.com.