Raymond Henderson

Raymond A. Henderson--husband and father, pilot and patriot, artist and reader--left us quietly the morning of August 8th. He was blessed to have all his children and his wife and many of his grandchildren at his side as he passed.

Ray was born on May 28th, 1923. He was the second child of Raymond and Pauline Henderson, following his older sister, Phyllis. When he was still young, his family moved to Denver from the Oklahoma oilfields where his father worked as an accountant, and then on to Franklin, Nebraska, the smalltown backdrop of Ray’s childhood.

When he was only eight years old, a barnstorming pilot came to Franklin. Ray could not afford a ride, but nothing could stop him from going to see the plane. From that moment his dearest ambition was, as his mother once put it: “to fly, only to fly!” Although he was always the dutiful son, studious and helpful at the family shop, this fascination with flight would define his life. As a child, Ray was always sketching planes, a hobby that grew into a lifelong passion for drawing; after his military service, this passion led him to briefly study art at the U. of Omaha, and for the rest of his life he took great joy in sketching, especially for his children. Although he read widely and hungrily throughout his life--often staying up into the early hours of the morning with a book he just could not put down--Ray always returned to his first and favorite topic, aviation. Even today, the stack of aviation magazines on his bedside table stands testament to the fact that, until the day he died, his thoughts were drifting ever skyward.

There has never been a shortage of boys who dream of flight, yet remain on the ground. Not Ray. In September of 1941, he dropped out of the University of Nebraska to enlist in the air force. Over the next two years, he worked his way through the training required to be a pilot, eventually receiving his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant at Luke Field, Arizona, before being stationed in France and Germany, where he flew troop carriers.

With the end of the war, Ray returned to his family, which had relocated just across the state border to Phillipsburg, KS. He spent the next few years working at his father’s dime store there before he was called back to fly in Korea in 1951, where Ray found the ultimate fulfilment of his childhood dreams flying missions in his Lockheed F84 fighter.

Still, the most important part of that war for Ray did not take place in his F84 cockpit. Instead, it was a moment in Kansas, when, on leave before shipping out, Raymond met Jeannine, the love of his life and the woman with whom he would spend more than two thirds of his time on this earth. Ray and Jeannine were married upon his safe return from Korea, in a beautiful ceremony on June 28th, 1953. Between 1953 and 1958, they owned and operated a dime store in Salina, Kansas, during which time Jeannine gave birth to two boys, Scott and Michael.

As a boy, Ray often vacationed in the Colorado Rockies, fashioning a deep love for the blue and grey immensity of those mountains. This love brought him and his young family to Broomfield in 1958, where they opened a new store and welcomed their daughter, Kim, into the family. In 1966 they moved again, to Boulder. In 1975, Ray opened up the property management business that he would build into a successful company and run until his retirement. A longtime member of the Boulder Area Real Estate Association, Ray enjoyed his work and was proud of his success, but took the greatest pleasure in supporting his family and the fact that he could count many of his clients lifelong friends. Although Ray was never much of a joiner, a profound religious experience in WWII at the end of a long faith journey led him to convert and spend the rest of his life as a devout Christian Scientist and member of the First Christian Science Church of Boulder, which he supported until his death.

Ray was a never a man of many words. He was more apt to listen than to talk about himself or his service, and yet those closest to him knew Ray to be a man of great depth. He was a peaceful man who nonetheless served his country and the world in two wars. He followed his dreams into the sky and back. He treasured the same woman for sixty-three years. His family stands as his greatest legacy.

Raymond will be sorely missed by friends and family. He is predeceased by his parents, Raymond and Pauline Henderson and his older sister, Phyllis Krauss, and is survived by his wife, Jeannine, his children, Scott and Michael (Ann), and Kim (Drew), and his grandchildren: Tori, Kelsey, Connor, Caley, Meghan and Patrick. We all take solace in knowing that he has returned to the skies he loved so well.

A memorial service will be held 1pm this Thursday at Cairn Church, 1700 Stonehenge Dr, Lafayette, CO. Memorial contributions may be made to either TRU Hospice Care through mortuary website, greenwoodmyersfuneral.com, or by check to the First Christian Science Church of Boulder.