Walter F. Henry

Walter Francis Henry passed from this life on January 3, 2015, at age 95, in his home near Newburg, Missouri.
Walt will be remembered as a loving father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and uncle; devoted husband; and faithful friend. He was born August 28, 1919, in Goff, Kansas, the only child of William Henery and Fern Calder Henery Lamar, who preceded him in death. He is survived by two daughters, Kit Henry, with her husband Henry Sanders, of Hancock, New Hampshire, and Kay Henry, with her husband Nasr-Eddine Senoussaoui, of St. Louis, Missouri; two granddaughters, Carrie Meagher (with husband Matt Meagher) of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and Jane Wang (with husband Tai-Ran Niew) of Washington D.C.; two great-grandchildren, Tess and John Meagher, of Honesdale, and numerous relatives and friends. His wife of 67 years, Jean Ellis Henry, died in 2011. Their son, John Ellis Henry, died in 1981.
Walt was known as Bill or Billy, after his father, for most of his young life. The Navy made an error on his official records that changed his surname from Henery to Henry, and "Walt" eventually replaced "Bill." He was raised in Eastern Kansas and worked as a farm hand before joining the Navy in May of 1938. He completed his basic training in San Diego and eventually shipped off to Hawaii on the U.S.S. Oklahoma. He was on the Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He subsequently spent most of World War II in the Pacific Theater. In 1944, he returned to the U.S. and married Jean Ellis, his childhood sweetheart. He retired from the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer in 1957.
Walt and Jean lived in Washington, D.C., New York, Seattle, California, Oklahoma, and Arizona before moving to Rolla, Missouri, in the late sixties. The Navy had provided him with training in electronics, which served him well in his long career as a technician. He worked several years for RCA in Tucson, Arizona, before moving to the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, where he assisted with a number of research projects on topics including weather, lunar exploration, and the first computers. He loved Arizona but always wanted to return to the Midwest, so in 1969 he accepted an opportunity with the Electrical Engineering Department at Missouri University of Science and Technology (then known as the University of Missouri at Rolla), where he continued his work on computers and other faculty research projects. He was a familiar and friendly presence in the ground floor lab at what is now called Emerson Electric Company Hall. He retired from UMR in 1979 to raise cattle and tend to his beloved farm.
Walt and Jean were for many years at the core of mid-Missouri's bluegrass music community. For nearly two decades, they hosted Friday night jam sessions in their home on Tick Creek, where their son John became a superb guitarist mentored by some of the area's finest musicians. Walt, though hearing-impaired since the war, loved to listen to bluegrass live and on radio station KMST, and always appreciated traditional renditions of his favorite tunes.
Walt was a consummate pitch player, a craftsman, a wood carver, a basket-weaver, and a practical joker. Ever curious, he read widely and especially loved poetry, from the sublime to the raucous. He spent time every day on the internet, where he read the New York Times and enjoyed email from friends and family. Even in his later years, he had a remarkable memory and would often pepper his conversation with references to what he had read. He stayed strong and healthy until three months before his death, heating with wood all winter, and planting and tending his garden in the spring and summer.
Walt especially loved playing with his great-grandchildren. During his 95th summer, he went kayaking with them on the Little Piney, and played catcher for an impromptu family baseball game.
Above all, Walt Henry had a razor-sharp wit which would always leave his listeners shaking their heads in awe -- once they had stopped laughing. In short, he was brilliant, and an inspiration to a wide variety of people from many walks of life. All who knew him will miss him deeply.
A memorial celebration is planned for Sunday, February 15, at 2:00 p.m. in Missouri S&T's Havener Center in Rolla, Missouri. Memorial gifts may be made to a charity or non-profit of the giver's choice.