Girard B. Henderson

Girard Brown Henderson (February 25, 1905 – November 16, 1983) was an American business executive and philanthropist. He is best known as a director of Avon Products and the founder of the Alexander Dawson Schools.

Jerry Henderson
Born
Girard Brown Henderson

February 25, 1905
Brooklyn, New York, US
DiedNovember 16, 1983
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBusinessman, Philanthropist
TitleFounder and CEO,
Alexander Dawson Foundation
CEO, Alexander Dawson Inc.
Board member ofAvon Products
Spouse(s)Theodora G. Huntington
Mary Franklin
Children2

Early life

Girard Henderson (Jerry) was born on February 25, 1905, in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Alexander D. Henderson and Ella M. Brown. He was the grandson of Joseph Henderson (pilot) and brother to Alexander D. Henderson, Jr. In 1910, the family moved from Brooklyn to Suffern, New York. Henderson went to the Suffern Grammar School and later the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. He continued his education at the preparatory Storm King School in Cornwall On Hudson, New York. He graduated in the class of 1923. In 1925, Henderson was accepted to Dartmouth College, but only attended his freshman year.[1]

On February 28, 1927, Henderson married Theodora Gregson Huntington (1904-1979) from Spring Valley, New York, which was located five miles north of Suffern. They had two children. Henderson and Huntington divorced in 1960. In 1928, Henderson took a job with a stock brokerage firm in Paterson, New Jersey. When the stock market crashed in 1929, he worked selling life insurance for the Phoenix Mutual Insurance Company.[1]

Career

In the 1930s, Henderson flew a Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing airplane for David H. McConnell, president of the California Perfume Company. The company chartered his plane to transport executives going from Philadelphia and Albany on business.[1] In 1933, Henderson opened the Henderson Motor Co., a Chrysler Dodge dealership in Suffern, New York with Kenneth Burnham. Henderson later landed a contract to truck materials for Avon from New York City to Suffern.[2]

On December 17, 1935, Henderson's mother created a holding company called the Alexander Dawson Inc. (ADI), which was named after her husband, and Henderson was listed as a director.[3] In 1940, Henderson was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for Avon Products. He was on the board for 35 years.[4]

In 1950, Henderson created the Alarm Corporation in Carmel, California, which later was changed to the Monterey Peninsula Television (MP-TV) Company. The company provided underground cable service to Carmel residents. MP-TV had its receiving antenna site on the high ground of Pebble Beach. It was the first cable system in California, and the third in the country.[5]

On June 5, 1964, Henderson married his second wife, Mary Franklin Hollingsworth (1905-1988) in Clark County, Nevada. [6]

In 1964, Henderson pioneered underground living and sponsored the Underground Home exhibit at the New York World's Fair.[7] At the height of the Cold War and fearing nuclear war or other catastrophe, Henderson built and lived in underground homes in Colorado and Las Vegas, Nevada.[8][9]

Alexander Dawson Foundation
Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado

In 1960, Henderson created the Alexander Dawson Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education.[10]

In 1980, Henderson created the Colorado Junior Republic School (CJR) on a 380 acre site near Lafayette, Colorado, as a boarding school for children who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity for an education.[11] Today, the school is called the Alexander Dawson School (ADS) and is operated under the Alexander Dawson Foundation. The school is a coeducational college preparatory day school for grades K-12.[12]

Aviation

Henderson had a passion for flying ever since he saw Charles Lindbergh honored for his solo flight across the Atlantic with a ticker tape parade down Broadway in NYC in 1927. He was one of the nation's earliest pilots. His pilot's license number was in the upper four digits and was signed by the surviving Wright Brothers.[1]

On September 1, 1978, Henderson invested in and was on the board of directors for Gulfstream American Corporation, a company formed by Allen Paulson, which acquired the Grumman American Aviation Corporation for $32 million and $20.5 million in preferred stock. The company, was a subsidiary of the Grumman Aerospace Corporation, that manufactured and sold the Gulfstream II executive aircraft. Gulfstream American also manufactured the Gulfstream American Hustler.[13][14]

In 1964, Henderson got involved in the Blue Channel Seafood Company that was located in Port Royal, South Carolina due west of Lady's Island. He acquired full ownership in 1968 from Sterling Harris, the founder and president. The company did a lot of direct mail advertising of their products, which included Clam Chowder, She-Crab Soup, Oyster Stew, Crabmeat, etc.[15] The company is now owned by Bost Distributing Company Inc., in Sanford, North Carolina.

Henderson created the Dawson Yacht Corporation in Las Vegas, Nevada, as a subsidiary of Alexander Dawson, Inc. The company sold about 300 Dawson 26 boats. In the "Story of the Windship 'Prodigal', Bob Lengyel talks about a three-week journey on a Dawson 26.[16] Henderson converted an "Air-Sea Rescue Craft," built in 1946 for the Army Air Force, into a luxurious yacht called the Roosterfish.[17]

Cecil Peak Station
Queenstown (New Zealand) with Lake Wakatipu

In 1975, Henderson purchased the Cecil Peak Station, near Queenstown, New Zealand on the western shore of Lake Wakatipu, from Fred "Popeye" Lucas. The Cecil Peak station became a tourist attraction. Henderson sold the property in 1986.[18][19]

Storm King School

Henderson attended the Storm King School from 1916-1923, graduating in the class of 1923. He later gave gifts for school buildings and educational programs. In 1981, Henderson provided a significant grant that launched the Henderson Outdoor Recreation Program at the Storm King School in New York.[20]

Death

On November 16, 1983, Henderson died at his underground home in Las Vegas, Nevada.[21] Henderson's body was flown to Beaufort, South Carolina. His funeral was on November 20th at the Laurel Hill Plantation at Sam’s Point Road on Lady's Island (South Carolina). He was buried inside a chapel he had built on a one-acre site at Laurel Hill Plantation. Inside the chapel there are Old Testament paintings on the walls and ceiling by artist Jewell Smith. Henderson's headstone reads: "If your hands are clean your cause is just, and if your request is reasonable you cannot be denied." There is a street leading to the chapel named “HENDERSON WAY.”

Post-death

On March 31, 1999, the Alexander Dawson Foundation established the Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain in Las Vegas, Nevada. The school opened in 2000 offering a rigorous, traditional liberal arts curriculum. On May 28, 2014, the Alexander Dawson Foundation gave $1,000,000 to the Alexander Dawson School's Legacy Endowment Campaign. Because of this gift, the Alexander Dawson School in Rainbow Mountain unveiled the G.B. Henderson Administration Building, which was named for Jerry as the founder of the school.[10]

References
  1. Henderson, Girard B. So Long, It's been good to Know You. pp. 1–23.
  2. Colorado's mystery millionaire by Louis Kilzer of the Denver Post, 1983.
  3. "Minutes Of Meeting Of Incorporators Alexander Dawson, Inc.", December 18, 1935, ADI Certificate of Incorporation.
  4. "Annual report, 1975". Hagley Museum and Library. 1975. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  5. "MPTV Cable System History (Monterey Show)". www.youtube.com. February 6, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2020. This is a video about the history of the MPTV cable company. It was purchased by TCI and eventually became part of Comcast.
  6. "Nevada, Marriage Index". 1956–2005. Retrieved 22 Dec 2013.
  7. "The Underground World Home". nywf64.com. May 30, 1965. Retrieved 2013-01-23.
  8. Album, "At the bottom of the fair" by Johnny Mann, 1965
  9. "UNDERGROUND HOUSE FOR SALE – ANOTHER COLD WAR BUNKER, BUT WITH STYLE!". www.midcenturystyle.net. September 19, 2013. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  10. "The Alexander Dawson Foundation". The Alexander Dawson School. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  11. Welch, Bryan (1981-11-08). "Colorado's Free Enterprise High". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  12. "At A Glance, History". Alexander Dawson School. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  13. Gulfstream Aerospace Plans Big-Stock Offering, by Agis Salpukas, Published: April 4, 1983
  14. Gulfstream American Corporation 1978 Annual Report, Year ending December 31, 1978
  15. "She~Crab Soup". bostdistributingcompany.com. Retrieved 2020-03-12. During the 1960s, Sterling Harris was looking for financial assistance and contacted Jerry Henderson in California.
  16. Lengyel, Bob (1975). Story of the Windship 'Prodigal'. Dawson Yacht Corporation.
  17. Welcome Aboard the yacht Roosterfish, Jerry Henderson, Dawson Boat Sales, Mahwah, New Jersey
  18. "The New Zealand Law Reports, Volume 1". books.google.com. New Zealand Council of Law Reporting,. 1976. Retrieved 2020-03-12. Digest for 1903-1907 contains "Index of cases reported in the Gazette law reports and not reported in the New Zealand law reports.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  19. "Story: Lucas, Frederick John". teara.govt.nz. 1993. Retrieved 2020-03-12. In 1975 Fred and Lorie Lucas sold the station and moved to Moutere, New Zealand.
  20. "OUR LAST FIFTY YEARS: 1967-2018: Embracing the Arts and the Outdoors". sks.org. Retrieved 2020-04-16. With a significant grant from Girard B. Henderson '23, the Henderson Outdoor Recreation Program was launched.
  21. "All U.S., Social Security Death Index". Ancestry.com. Retrieved March 6, 2020.


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