James HENDERSON Sr.

Family-Placed Death Notice

HENDERSON, Sr., James JIMMY HENDERSON James R Henderson Sr. passed away on Friday May 31, 2013. Jimmy was born on September 20, 1913 in Detroit, Michigan. He was the son of the late Ross James and Irene Rohde Henderson. In 1922 Jimmy, his mother, dad, and brother, Tom, moved to Atlanta since his father was being transferred here by the Packard Motor Car Company to set up the first Packard Dealership in the South. Jimmy had four wonderful careers: Military, Business, Religious, and Care Giving. His military career started in 1929 when he joined the Governor's Horse Guards, a machine gun troop of the 108th Cavalry of the United States Cavalry. In 1932 he joined the regular army after the cavalry was retired and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant. In December of 1940, Captain Henderson was assigned to Fort McPherson in Atlanta where he convoyed inductees all over the US. Later he became the Fort McPherson Post Director of Individual Affairs. He was later reassigned with six other officers to AFWESPAC Headquarters in the Philippines to head up the Personal Affairs Section. He returned to the US and was assigned to the Special Services Office of the 7th Army at Fort McPherson and transferred to inactive duty in 1946 as a replacement officer in the 3rd Army. Jimmy retired in 1970 after 44 years in the Army as a Lt. Colonel. Jimmy's business career began with the H.G. Hastings Seed Company, working both at their farm in Lovejoy and their main seed store in Atlanta. He also managed Hastings first Garden Center. He left Hastings to become a life insurance salesman with New York Life Insurance Company. Later he accepted a job with Swift & Company in their fertilizer division to promote Vigero and their other special fertilizers over five southeastern states. Jimmy left Swift & Company to work for the Veterans Administration before accepting a position with Spratlin, Harrington & Company in Atlanta where he became a partner and Secretary/Treasurer of the company. He stayed with the company after it was bought by Powell & Company of Decatur and remained with Powell until he retired in 1985. Jimmy's religious career was strengthened when he came under the influence of the noted Reverend Peter Marshall while Peter was a college student at Columbia Seminary and remained fast friends until Peter's death. Jimmy's marriage to Edith Harrison Henderson, the well known Landscape Architect, was in 1939 at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, where he later became a Deacon, Chairman of the Board of Deacons, an Elder and a Stephen Minister. Jimmy felt that his career though, as a care giver to his wife Edith, who was stricken with Alzheimer's Disease in 1995, was the most precious career of his life. Jimmy spent over ten years taking care of his beloved Edith in their home until she died his arms on October 12, 2005. Edith is buried in the Memorial Gardens at First Presbyterian. Jimmy's education included Tech High and Georgia Evening College (Georgia State University) where he was a member of Delta Sigma Pi. He later became President of the Georgia State Alumni Association. Jimmy graduated from The Atlanta Law School. He was a member of the United States Cavalry Association, lifetime member of the Kiwanis Club of Peachtree Atlanta, member of the Fulton County Post 134 of the American Legion, Military Order of the World Wars, Reserve Officers Association, and a charter member of the Atlanta Men's Garden Club. James R Henderson, Sr. was preceded in death by his wife, Edith and a daughter, Grey, and is survived by two sons, Edward Ross Henderson of Waterbury, Connecticut, and James Ross Henderson Jr. and his wife, Dana Hughes Henderson of Atlanta; two grandsons, Andrew Hughes Henderson of Atlanta and Grayson Kyle Henderson of Waterbury, Connecticut. A memorial service will be held this Sunday June 9, 2013 at 2:00 pm at the First Presbyterian Church, 16th and Peachtree Street, Atlanta, with burial in the church's memorial gardens beside his wife, Edith. Contributions in the memory of James R Henderson, Sr., may be made to The First Presbyterian Church, 1328 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, Ga. 30309, and marked James Henderson, Memorial Garden Fund or to The Atlanta Botanical Gardens in memory of Edith & Jimmy Henderson. A. S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home and Crematory.