Ginger (Alice) Dishman Henry

Ginger (Alice) Henry, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and self proclaimed army brat, passed away on October 4, 2023. Born on April 5, 1941, in Washington D.C., Ginger was the fourth of six children to Addison Vincent Dishman and Virginia Dishman. She is survived by her three daughters (Stacie, Brooke and Brenda) and eight grandchildren (Parker, Grant, Drew, Emma, Thalia, Davis, Dawson and Kenta). Growing up in a military family, Ginger moved numerous times, including time in Hawaii and France, and always referred to herself as an "Army Brat." Her father, Addison, graduated from West Point and rose to the ranks of a Colonel in the US Army. Her mother, Virginia, known for her culinary skills and love of dance, embraced her Hawaiian heritage, which she passed down to her many grandchildren.

Ginger attended the first three years of high school in France and finished her last year in the U.S. After graduation she was strongly encouraged by her father to pursue a degree in engineering at William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. It was there that she met her former husband, Chad Henry. Instead of finishing school she decided to drop out and got married. She and Chad moved to the Bethesda, MD area, had three daughters together and often hosted visitors/family who wanted to see Washington D.C and other historic places in the area. She made a point of taking her daughters to important events like the 4th of July at the Washington Monument and the Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

Ginger had an affinity for family and traveling and often combined her two loves. While her older daughters were in elementary school and the youngest was just a toddler, she took them all on summer road trips to see her brother Bill in Idaho. Her approach was always 'the more the merrier' so one year, she brought her best friend, Karin, and her two children and another year she brought her niece, Kathy, along so they could also experience life on a farm with things like sleeping under the stars on a trampoline, feeding chickens and watching cows stampede through the front yard. She never passed up an opportunity to take a road trip to see her brothers, sister, nieces, nephews and their families. She attended weddings and various celebrations, always showing her support.

In the summer of 1978, they all moved to Concord, California east of San Francisco. They arrived just in time for swim season and put the oldest two on the swim team and spent long days at the pool and many afternoons watching the Sound of Music that first year. This became the standard and they all, including the youngest at age 5, spent many summers on the swim team and filling their weekends with swim meets.

Living close to San Francisco, Ginger liked to host families and friends and act as their tour guide when they would visit. She loved to drive everyone into San Francisco before 9 a.m. so she could go across the bridge for free and would find parking in the busy city by asking her girls to call out to people who looked like they were going to a car to see if they were leaving. Her favorite places to go were Pier 39, the Presidio, Ghirardelli Square and across the Golden Gate Bridge but her absolute favorite was to visit the Buena Vista and have one (or two) of their famous Irish Coffees. It was always full of travelers and Ginger loved to connect with people and learn a bit about who they were and what they were planning in the area.

Ginger worked hard to provide for her girls and went back to college later to complete her degree while working and putting her older two daughters through college at the same time. She was determined to be the first of the three to graduate and she achieved that with six months to spare. She divorced Chad in 1984 and started working in asbestos abatement which led to a career in safety management that was perfectly suited to her. Ginger joined the State of California with OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health). She was very successful in her career and was quickly promoted into a management position. Ginger was one of the few women that would climb cranes (even with a big fear of heights), enforce safety laws, went inside San Quentin and joined everyone at the table in a male dominated industry. While at Cal-OSHA, she managed offices in Martinez, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura and then she decided to move back to Washington D.C. where she worked with Fed OSHA until she retired.

After she retired with Fed OSHA, her travel/roadtrip bug bit again and she used her experience, expertise and joined FEMA where she went to areas where disasters had hit. She traveled all over the U.S. and she took full advantage of every opportunity to see as much as she could of the country she loved. One of her favorite assignments was in 2009 in American Samoa where she was stationed for six months after the tsunami hit. She lived with the locals and enjoyed learning about their culture, especially the food and polynesian dance lessons. She always took the time to visit state parks, monuments and other things of interest and to meet the locals of the places she went and she was never one to pass up the chance to talk to someone standing next to her.

Ginger had eight grandchildren that she loved and enjoyed seeing grow up. She spent much of her retirement assisting with their care and even moved to Raleigh, NC for a few years and then Oakland, CA to help with the younger grandkids. She attended their (many) sports events and went on memorable vacations with her daughters and their families. She put a lot of effort into every vacation to ensure each trip was special and she has left her family with many amazing memories of all the trips with her. She was always very active and enjoyed cross-country road trips, camping, opera, musicals, and cultural experiences and she was happiest when traveling. She was definitely a rolling stone type who never ended up staying too long in one place. Her claim to fame was that she lived in over 40 places and then stopped counting.

Alice (Ginger) Henry passed away on October 4, 2023 after her fight with Dementia and Parkinsons. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends who will remember her as a strong and independent woman who was devoted to her family and left them with many memories to cherish.

Instead of a memorial service, her family will celebrate her memory in a private gathering of loved ones.

In honor of Ginger, who always had a heart for supporting our nation's veterans, we kindly request that any donations be made to The Wounded Warrior Project in her memory simply go to the donation section below and enter "Wounded Warrior".