Henrietta Henny Reiter

Henrietta “Henny” Reiter of Chadds Ford Henrietta “Henny” Reiter, age 87, passed away on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 after a heroic battle with pancreatic cancer. Born in Southampton, NY to Celia and Coleman Saladon, Henny grew up in Calverton, NY where she spent her childhood working on the family farm. She was valedictorian of her high school class and earned a BS in Microbiology from Syracuse University in 1950. In her 20’s and early 30’s Henny worked as a lab technician at National Dairy Products, did product purity testing for Thomas Lipton, re-established a library at Shell Chemical, did food packaging research at Standard Packaging and was a patent researcher for the Dupont Patent Office. While at NDP Henny did the research work which solved a serious issue of contamination in infant formula. In the 1960’s Henny also worked for several years as a real estate agent. Henny loved nature and art, especially birds, gardening, wildflowers and orchids; her “green thumb” was the envy of many. She was an avid reader and took many classes at the Academy of Lifelong Learning and Longwood Gardens. She loved to travel and enjoyed trips to Cuba, Costa Rica, Maine, and the Southwestern US. Henny was a Charter Member of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, a member of the Delaware Orchid Society and a member and volunteer for the Chadds Ford Historical Society. She was part of the infamous CFHS Jelly Beans volunteer gang and also the local garden society. Henny’s closest and longest term volunteer association was with the Brandywine River Museum of Art where she was involved with the Museum’s founding. She helped to establish many of the volunteer programs that are successfully in place today. Through the years, Henny passionately assisted with many of these programs in a variety of capacities. While at Standard Packaging, Henny met her husband of 58 years, Fred M. Reiter, who predeceased her in 2014. Fred and Henny designed and built a house together in Chadds Ford where they lived for nearly 55 years and were an extremely active and integral part of the local community. Henny is also predeceased by her brothers Barney and Joseph Saladon. She is survived by her daughter, Deborah Reiter, of Amherst, MA, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, in-laws and close friends. Donations in Henny’s memory may be made to the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art, P. O. Box 141, Chadds Ford, PA 19317 or the National Museum of the American Indian, P. O. Box 23473, Washington, DC 20026-3473. A memorial gathering to honor her life will be held Sunday, June 12, 2016 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, PA. Arr. by Cremation Service of Delaware