Annette G Henderson

ANNETTE G. HENDERSON

Ann Henderson was born on October 24, 1935, in Evanston, Illinois, the second child of Gertrude and Alfred Gulder, who had settled in the Chicago area from Zwickau, Germany with the help of family. Ann passed away suddenly on January 28, 2026, at the age of 90.

Ann grew up in Winnetka and Northbrook, Illinois before attending the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, where she met her future husband, Joe Henderson, at the Presbyterian Church. They married in 1957 and built their life together across several communities - Decatur, Dwight, Naperville and Robinson, Illinois; Kansas City, Kansas - before settling in Sterling, Illinois, where she remained for the rest of her life.

She was preceded in death by her daughter Cheryl, her parents Gertrude and Alfred Gulder, her sister Ruth Roberts, and her husband Joe. Ann is survived by her daughter Susan McDaniel (Robin McDaniel), and Susan's children James, Emily, Madeline, and Reed; her daughter Carol Christensen (Brian) and their children Shawn and Nick; and her son Joseph David Henderson, Jr. (Barbara Ross Henderson) and his son Gavin and Gavin's mother Trista Miller.

From her high school years onward, Ann devoted herself to volunteer work, music, gardening, and community life. After family, faith was at the center of everything she did - expressed through decades of teaching, gardening, music, and prayer. She was active in Church Women United, the Garden Club, PEO, and the PTA, and gave years of service to CGH Medical Center's Auxiliary, Health Foundation, and as a volunteer Chaplain - a role she continued until the age of 89. She also participated in Investment Club, Community Choir, Power Squadron, and served as a Sterling Chamber of Commerce Ambassador.

Ann's greatest wish was simple: that we give love to all we meet along the way. In that spirit, she requested plants in lieu of fresh flowers, so that they might later be given to nursing homes, and asked that memorial contributions be directed to the CGH Health Foundation or the First Presbyterian Church of Sterling.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on May 2, 2026, at the First Presbyterian Church, 410 Second Avenue, Sterling, IL.

Ann will be forever loved and forever missed.