By: Angel Steiner
Mr. John Wirth, lifelong resident of Sherwood Ohio, has hung up his hat from his board of trustees position with Sherwood Bank. He is ready to live a more relaxed life just being a retired husband, father and grandfather.
Wirth served on the board of directors for the Sherwood Banc Corporation for a total of 32 years and 17 of those was as the board’s chairman (1992-2024). He also is the board chairman for the board of trustees for SMTA – Sherwood Mutual Telephone Association. He will be retiring from this board in July 2024. His term with the Metalink board has also come to an end.
His hats over the course of his tenure in Sherwood have also included business owner. His father owned and operated the Sherwood Hardware and he took over for this father when he passed.
His next venture was the Wirth Super Value downtown Sherwood. He later built a shopping center at the intersection of SR 18 and US 127. The new grocery store location became known as the Village Food Emporium. Wirth ran the store until he sold it in 2018.
John Wirth married his high school sweetheart, Carol Andrews, and they made Sherwood their home adding two children to their family — Matt and Lisa. Matt is a is a Sr. Computer Engineer for Intel and lives in Chandler, AZ. Lisa is a Sr. Accountant for Arizona State University and lives in Mesa, AZ. John and Carol also have three grandchildren – a senior, a sophomore, and an eighth grader – all of which they are looking forward to spending more time with as they split their time between Sherwood and Chandler, AZ. John also served a term as Sherwood Mayor and a term as a village council person for Sherwood. He stated that he thought it would be most beneficial for all residents of a small town to serve at least one term on a village council or on a board of some kind. He believes that would help the residents understand the importance of leading and working together. He was an active member of other nonprofit organizations over the years as well – like JayC’s and the Lions Club.
Wirth stated that he is proud to have been a part of the growth of the Sherwood Banc Corporation. He watched them go from one location and $14,000,000 in assets to five locations and $100,000,000 in assets. Locations now include Ridgeville Corners, Fayette, Defiance, and Archbold, in addition to the original Sherwood location.
“It’s great to know everyone in our small community and it has been good to watch the growth over the years. I like seeing the next generation beginning to take the reins and take Sherwood (and Sherwood Bank) to the next level of growth,” Wirth reflected, “Sherwood is a great bank – they will be celebrating 80 years in business in 2025. They’ve treated the community well. It’s truly a community bank – focusing on the worth of the average citizen, not just the large corporations.” Wirth realizes that a community is built with these people that Sherwood Bank services.
John Wirth, it was a pleasure hearing your story and your perspective of Sherwood Ohio and Sherwood Bank. Enjoy retirement, enjoy family, enjoy Sherwood and Arizona.
