Owen Henderson

Owen Henderson of Rock Hall, Maryland died surrounded by loved ones on April 29, 2003 in his home. He was 87. Owens life was full of adventure and diversity. He knew extreme poverty and relative affluence. His sense of humor was his hallmark. Mr. Henderson’s quest for a college education with little or no resources and his understanding of the hurt that one feels from poverty or when pursuing a dream hampered by circumstances beyond his control made him compassionate and a philanthropic person when his circumstances improved. Throughout his life he has always regarded others as people to help rather than as competitors. Owen was a man who picked fruit in California as an Okie in the depression, dug ditches as a roustabout for an oil services company in that state, lived for a while in a chicken coop in Dallas while earning enough to live and find better quarters. He won a tuition scholarship to the University of Mexico and acted as a tourist guide to support himself during his sophomore and junior years before coming back to graduate from Southern Methodist University (SMU). He went to Alaska after graduation. Enroute he met a man who knew aircraft repair work and went into business with him in Fairbanks. They received an airplane when a customer was unable to pay for repairs and Owen learned to fly. He became a bush pilot, supplying miners in the interior. He was called into military service after Pearl Harbor and had to sell his then profitable business for a fraction of its value. Owen was selected for Officer Candidate School and assigned to Wilmington, De. He rose to command of all ground personnel at the Newcastle Army Air Base and was later accepted for the military government program. He attended the University of Virginia to learn the rules of international warfare and the University of Chicago, where he gained a working knowledge of Japanese and a master’s degree in political science. He traveled to Monterrey, Calif. to await taking part in the invasion of Japan. The war ended and he was assigned to South Korea. He became military mayor of Kwangju and later governor of Chollanando province in the southwestern corner of the country. He was in charge of much of the textile and coal industries of that country and had the largest leper colony in the world. He was industry advisor to General A.V. Arnold who was negotiating with the Russians about the establishment of the 38th parallel division of Korea. Between WWII and the Korean Conflict, he was a purchasing agent for Chance Vought Aircraft, taught speech at SMU, owned a quarter interest in a meat packing plant in Dallas, and factored accounts receivable. Owen was called back into the U.S. Air Force in the Korean War and headed up procurement of aircraft and supplies in that country. He was in charge of the procurement of the equipment that went into the Pinetree Radar Screen across central Canada, joining Dew and While Alice screens. When finally discharged from the military, he was a partner in an apartment project in the Bronx. He studied real estate management at City College and at various times, was bookkeeper for a Puerto Rican Theater group, parts-lister for a technical writing company, and a trader on the New York Produce Exchange and a management consultant with assignments as far a field as Cuba. Along with best friend, Russ Morrison, Owen established Huntingfield Corporation in 1958, purchasing a 275-acre farm o the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Rock Hall, Md. In 1959, Owen and Russ joined Charles (Scotty) McCord of Shreveport, Louisiana and began drilling for oil and gas. This activity continued until 1998. During his lifetime, Owen was a scoutmaster, the national treasurer for eight years of Outward Bound, Inc., a trustee of SMU, a member of the Presidents Advisory Board of Washington College, a trustee of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at SMU, and a trustee of the Atlantic College in Llantwit Major, Wales. The Atlantic College was an international school that embodied many of the Outward Bound principles. Memorial services will be held privately. Arrangements by Fellows, Helfenbein, and Newnam Funeral Home Rock Hall, Md. www.fhnfuneralhome.com